Budget implementation poor in Karnali

By Navin Subedi,Surkhet, Dec. 5: Budget implementation by the Karnali Provincial government was poorer this year than the past. Only 7.11 per cent of the total budget allocation of the provincial government has been spent in the first four months of the current fiscal year (from July 16 to November 16).

The Karnali Provincial government presented a budget of Rs. 33.37 billion for the current fiscal year 2023/24. Of that, only Rs. 2.37 billion have been spent during the review period.

During the first four months of the last fiscal year, Jeevan Bahadur Shahi-led government had spent 7.63 per cent budget (about Rs. 2.50 billion). After becoming Chief Minister of Karnali Province Raj Kumar Sharma gave 61-point instructions to the employees regarding the implementation of the budget.

In the instructions given by Sharma on January 31, 2023, it is said, “What are the reasons for not being able to spend the development budget? Who will be responsible for this? If the cause of this is not found and resolved, when will it be done? Create an environment by executing tasks quickly where questions do not arise.”

Not only that, he had given instructions that the weaknesses in the implementation should not be overlooked. Despite his strict instruction, the implementation of the current fiscal year’s budget has been poor.

Even though it has no financial resources of its own, the provincial government has been criticised since the beginning for not being able to implement the annual budget received from the federal government.

Now there is more than Rs. 31.63 billion in the account of the Karnali Province government. 

The present expenditure scenario shows that it is hard to spend the remaining budget in the remaining eight months of the current fiscal year. Of the total budget expenditure, the situation of the expenditure of the development budget is even more pathetic. 

In the current fiscal year, the government has allocated Rs. 19.57 billion under the heading of development expenditure. However, only 5.29 per cent (Rs. 842 million) has been spent so far.

The Karnali Government does not seem to have brought any reforms in the implementation of the development budget after the operation of the federal system. Stakeholders said that the provincial government raises questions about the structure itself.

According to the Provincial Treasury Controller Office, 11.11 per cent of the budget under the recurrent heading has been spent. The government which has shown indifference to the implementation of the development budget is only formed to spend for salary and allowances and is a financial burden on the province.

Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning of Karnali Province Bedraj Singh admitted that the budget implementation has not improved as was expected. He said, “We will discuss identifying the weaknesses and improve them."