Only 8% budget spent in first four months of FY in Bagmati

By Our Correspondent,Hetauda, Nov. 20: The budget expenses of the Bagmati Provincial government stood below 8 per cent during the first four months of the current fiscal year 2024/25.

The budget expenditure of the provincial government has remained weak in the first four months of the current fiscal year compared to same period of the last fiscal year 2023/24.

The Bagmati Province government had spent around 9 per cent of the total allocation during the first four months of the last fiscal year.

According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning of the Bagmati Province government, the budget of Rs. 5.11 billion has been spent by mid-November of the current fiscal year. This is 7.93 per cent of the total budget allocation for the current fiscal year.

The government unveiled a budget of Rs. 64.54 billion on June 15, 2024 for the implementation of plans and programmes for the current fiscal year.

The budget of Rs. 5.78 billion of the total allocation of Rs. 62.70 billion had been spent in the first four months of the last fiscal year. This was 9.2 per cent of the total budget allocation for the last fiscal year.

Out of the budget allocation of Rs 64.54 billion, around Rs. 26.10 billion has been allocated for recurrent expenditure, Rs. 36.93 billion for capital expenditure and Rs. 1.50 billion for financing for the current fiscal year.

The statistics of the ministry showed that the expenditure of capital budget stood low during the first four months of the current fiscal year as compared to same period last fiscal year.

According to the Treasury Controller Office, Bagmati Province, of the total budget expenses, recurrent expenditure stood only at 14.65 per cent (Rs. 3.82 billion) of total allocation in the first four months of the current fiscal year. 

Similarly, capital expenditure stood only at 3.50 per cent (Rs.1.29 billion) of the total allocation in the first four months of the current fiscal year.

During the same period last fiscal year, recurrent expenditure stood at 13.48 per cent (Rs. 3.56 billion) of the total allocation of Rs. 26.70 billion.

Similarly, capital expenditure amounted to only 6.2 per cent (Rs. 2.22 billion) of the total allocation of Rs. 35.50 billion during the first four months of the last fiscal year.

In Bagmati Province, every fiscal year, the budget is spent at a slow pace until March, and in the last three months of every fiscal year, more than half of the total budget is spent.