KATHMANDU, July 10: The government made a single day spending of Rs 38.61 billion on Wednesday, the last day for the budget disbursement under the current fiscal year (FY) 2024/25.
The records with the Office of the Financial Comptroller General (FCGO) show that the government overall expenditure jumped to Rs 1.505 trillion from Rs 1.466 trillion on the single day. This shows a 2.6 percent rise on the last spending day expenditure by the government.
As per Rule 30 of the Financial Procedures and Fiscal Accountability Regulations, 2020, the accounts operated by the FCGO, Provincial Accounts Controller Offices (PACOs), and District Treasury Controller Offices (DTCOs) remain closed for the last one week of every FY. However, it has been the perennial problem that the government makes rampant expenditure in the last hour of the FY.
On Tuesday too, the government made a single day expenditure of Rs 19.46 billion. Taking into account the last two days, the government's total expenditure jumped to 85.82 percent from 79 percent of the allocated amount.
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Economist Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri said the last hour expenditure affects the government target of economic growth. “This type of expenditure pattern may not help achieve sustainable growth and yield the desired results, which is why the government misses its target almost every year,” Chhetri told Republica.
Until the end of the 11 months, the government made 69.25 percent of the allocated expenditure worth Rs 1.288 trillion. In the following two weeks, the government spent a total of Rs 91 billion.
Along with the total expenses, the rampant use of state funds is also revealed in the expenditure pattern of the development works. As of 11 months, the government had utilized only Rs 144.48 billion (41.01 percent) out of capital expenditure worth Rs 352.35 billion allocated for the current FY. When it comes to the end of the following three weeks, the capital expenditure jumped to 59.13 percent, an abnormal surge of over 18 point percent over the period.
According to the FCGO, the government on Tuesday alone paid 8.92 billion to contractors. On Wednesday, the capital expenditure rose by Rs 21.73 billion, an addition of over seven percent in the single-day.
Even worse part of the government expenditure is revealed in its practice of carrying out development works in the last hour, which is mostly driven by a temptation to meet deadlines and spend allocated budgets before the end of the FY. This mostly results in substandard work along with creating inconvenience to the travelers while posing safety risks due to poor road conditions.
Economist Dilli Raj Khanal said the low spending of the development budget results in inadequate cash flow leading to adverse impacts on investment, production and consumption.
Over the past decade, the government has been barely spending less than 70 percent of the allocated budget for development projects. In the last FY, the utilization of capital expenditure stood at around 61 percent of the allocated amount.
