Aggregate expenditures strides but capital expenditure remains Tepid

Ajay Chhetri / Kathmandu, Nov. 17: The federal government expenditure in the first four months of the current fiscal year (FY) has remained encouraging in comparison to the previous FY.

Total expenditure in the first four months of the current FY recorded Rs. 287.5 billion up from Rs 268.9 billion of the same period in the previous FY, according to the comparative data of the last two years presented by the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO).

The holistic figure revealed an upbeat pattern of the expenditures during these four months. Meanwhile, in comparison to the previous FY, expenditure outlay of the recurrent and financial expenditure moved upward while the capital expenditure marginally slid down.

According to the FCGO data, the amount of recurrent expenditure in the first four months of the current FY accounted Rs. 233.5 billion up from the same period of the previous FY which was Rs. 230.01 billion. Similarly, financial expenditure of the first four months of the current FY remained Rs. 33.2 billion up from Rs. 9.5 billion in the same period of the previous FY.

Despite the finance minister’s emphasis on increasing capital expenditure, the acceleration in capital expenditure has not yet taken off. According to the data, capital expenditure in the first four months of the current FY has stood at Rs. 20.79 billion down from the previous Rs. 29. 4 billion.

According to spokesperson of the ministry of finance, Ritesh Shakya, the main reason for the rise in financial expenditure is the payment made to the financial institutions. He added that the ministry has a target to maintain 10 per cent expenditure every month and stated that the outcome will soon be seen.