KATHMANDU, July 9: Today is the last day for the disbursement of funds under the current fiscal year 2024/25, according to the Office of the Financial Comptroller General (FCGO). Starting midnight tonight, all government accounts will be frozen for one week.
As per Rule 30 of the Financial Procedures and Fiscal Accountability Regulations, 2077, the accounts operated by the FCGO, Provincial Accounts Controller Offices (PACOs), and District Treasury Controller Offices (DTCOs) will be closed, said FCGO Spokesperson Sushila Aryal.
Government systems including the Sub-National Treasury Regulatory Application (SuTRA), the Treasury Single Account (TSA), and the Computerized Government Accounting System (CGAS) will also be shut down for a week starting at midnight.
In previous years, the FCGO used to issue circulars instructing PACOs and DTCOs to halt disbursements in the final week of the fiscal year. However, this year, due to mandatory provisions in the Financial Procedures and Fiscal Responsibility Act and regulations, no such circular was necessary, Aryal said.
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“The law mandates that government accounts must be frozen a week before the fiscal year ends. After tonight, no payments except for emergency purposes will be allowed,” Aryal added. Any emergency expenditure will require prior approval from the FCGO.
Rule 30 of the regulations states that no payments shall be made one week before the end of the fiscal year, except for budget headings explicitly marked as non-freezable in the Appropriation Act.
As of Tuesday, a day before the final deadline, government expenditure had reached around 79 percent of the total allocated budget. According to the FCGO, 84% of recurrent, 53% of capital, and 86% of financial management budgets have been spent so far.
