Pun says capital spending affected by staff transfers

KATHMANDU, MAY 01 -

Finance Minister Barsa Man Pun said on Monday that mass transfer of government employees in February affected capital expenditure in the current fiscal year.

The government has been criticized for failing to spend the development budget despite the timely presentation of the financial plan this fiscal year. As of mid-April, only Rs 25 billion out of the Rs 72 billion allocated has been spent, according to the Finance Ministry.

Pun said that government employees were found to become inactive just before they are transferred as they wait for their transfer orders. “After the transfer, it takes time for the new staff to familiarise themselves with the projects, and the budget is spent slowly,” he told at a press meet.

Pun added that he had also received complaints about delays in releasing additional funds after the budget allocation sanctioned earlier has been spent.

Despite modest revenue collection over the last few years, the government has not been able to spend the capital budget properly. Since the first Maoist-led government was formed in 2008 till the last fiscal year, the budget has been consistently delayed, either in its presentation or endorsement.

However, the slowdown in spending has continued this year too. According to the Finance Ministry, major ministries with a huge capital budget have failed to spend the allocated money. The Ministry of Physical Planning which has been allocated a capital budget of Rs 34.5 billion has spent only Rs 8.5 billion as of the ninth month of the fiscal year. The Ministry of Irrigation has spent Rs 4 billion out of the Rs 9 billion allocated while the Ministry of Local Development has spent Rs 1.5 billion out of the Rs 7.5 billion it has been given.

The finance minister has warned the ministries that if they can’t spend the money allocated to them he will transfer the budget to projects that have a better spending record and need additional funds.

Despite the disappointing capital expenditure as of the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the Finance Ministry has predicted that 90 percent of the allocated capital budget would be spent by the end of the fiscal year.

“Even though projects have spent the capital budget, they have not made timely payments, and we have not seen the exact record of their expenditure,” said Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota.

According to the Financial Comptroller General’s Office (FCGO), only Rs 2 billion has been spent under direct payment from donors which Baskota said was unrealistic.

“That’s why we are going for the treasury single account (TSA) system in most of the district treasury controller offices which gives a clear and up-to-date picture of the expenditure,” said Baskota. The TSA enables real time budget checks across all district treasury controller offices in the country and at the centre at the FCGO.

Source: Kantipur