The government has spent 30% of the development budget in the final month of the last fiscal year. Till June, a total of Rs 163.4 billion or 49% meant for development works was spent. A total of Rs 102 billion has been spent in the 12th month of the fiscal year 2017/18 or till July 16, raising the budget spending to Rs 267 billion.
Information Officer at Financial Comptroller General Office, Jagannath Devkota, admitted that attempts of bringing reforms in spending have gone in vain. He stated, “The spending in the last few days has increased and the policies devised for bringing in changes have remained in paper only. Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada had announced sweeping reforms in financial discipline through the white paper issued in March. However, spending figures continue to concentrate towards the end of the fiscal year as in the past.
According to critics, the Ministry of Finance has focused only on revenue generation after Khatiwada assumed office, and not on spending the budget in a rationale way. Although the collection target was Rs 730 billion, the government has collected Rs 731 billion revenue in the last fiscal year.
