Govt raises Rs 168.9Bln revenue as of September end

By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Oct 3: The government has raised Rs 168.91 billion as revenue as of September end of the current fiscal year (FY). 

Informing the meeting of the Finance Committee under the Federal Parliament today, Joint-Secretary of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) Baburam Subedi said that the government has raised Rs 168.91 billion revenue which makes up an 11.87 per cent revenue out of the total target of Rs 1422.54 billion set for this FY.

He informed that current expenditure, capital expenditure, and financial expenditure have increased by 47.4 per cent . 

Subedi said that the government spent a total expenditure of Rs 190.88 billion until Oct 2 of this FY.

He informed that the government has mobilized internal debt of Rs 77.13 billion and external debt of  Rs 4 billion.

Joint Secretary Subedi said that the government received a commitment of foreign assistance of Rs 10.63 billion till the end of mid-September in this FY.

He further said that foreign direct investment (FDI) of Rs 14.65 billion was approved for the industry this September and the Department of Industry has approved an FDI of Rs 468.62 million.

Sebedi informed parliamentarians that the Investment Board has approved 42 projects of Rs 1250 billion and the inflow of FDI of Rs 2650 million was recorded in mid-August of this FY.

He said the minister is committed to pursuing the policy of allowing the market to dictate the capital market and interest rate of banks. 

Speaking to the committee, Secretary (revenue) MoF, Dr. Ram Prasad Ghimire viewed that the revenue collection is not encouraging. He informed that the government will face challenges if the revenue collection policy is not improved. 

He informed that the government came up with improvements in the Financial Act. He viewed that vehicles run by petroleum products and fees from telecommunication which are the main source of revenue for the government are declining.