By Our Reporter
Amid uncertainty about whether the Nepali Congress would allow the government to present the budget in the House of Representatives, Finance Minister Barsaman Pun unveiled a budget of Rs. 1,869 billion in the joint session of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly on Tuesday.
The NC did not obstruct the session because the ruling parties and the agitating Nepali Congress agreed to form a parliamentary committee to investigate the cooperatives frauds Monday night.
Unlike in the past, there were no pre-budget discussions, neither was the policy document discussed in the House because of obstruction of the House proceedings.
The budget lacks any new features. It is traditional. The size itself looks ambitious. The Finance Minister has proposed to collect Rs. 547 billion from domestic and foreign debts and Rs. 1,260 billion from the revenue.
The size of the budget for the next fiscal is 21.56 per cent higher than the adjusted budget of the current FY 2023/24 Rs. 1,530.26 billion and 6.2 per cent higher than the original budget size of Rs. 1,751.31 billion.
Pun has allocated about Rs. 1,140.66 billion (61.31 per cent) — for recurrent expenditure which includes the allocations for the sub-national governments, maintenance of the infrastructure projects, and salaries and subsidies to be paid by the government. Rs. 408.87 billion will be transferred to the provincial and local governments.
About 18.94 per cent of the budget (Rs. 352.35 billion) is allocated for capital expenditure while 19.74 per cent or Rs. 367.28 billion is earmarked for financial provisions. The gap between the recurrent and capital budget is so huge that the administrative costs have multiplied after the government adopted federal restructures. About Rs. 97 billion is allotted for the seven provinces under different headings of grants alone.
The projected revenue collection of Rs. 1,260.30 billion makes up about 67.7 per cent of the total expenditure estimates.
Finance Minister Pun has presented five objectives, five priorities, and five economic reform strategies in the budget. The five objectives include increasing production, productivity and employment, increasing the morale of the private sector, increasing investment and speeding up economic activities, developing human capital, reducing economic inequality and poverty by using resources and means in a balanced and equitable manner, and make public service delivery more effective.
Similarly, the five priorities of the budget are economic reforms and promotion of the private sector, construction of industrial infrastructure such as agricultural energy information technology, development of social sectors including education and health, inclusion and social security and promotion of good governance and improvement in public service promotion.
The five economic reform strategies are structural reform, business environment reform, public finance system reform, financial sector reform and public administration reform.
Considering the poor good governance, rampant corruption and lack of sources for capital formations, realiisng these priorities, objectives and strategies looks elusive.
Among various development projects, the government has targeted to increase the installed capacity of electricity to 4,500 megawatts by adding 900 megawatts of electricity in the fiscal year, and Pun has allocated a budget of Rs. 50.47 billion for the development of the energy sector for the next fiscal year.
Likewise, around Rs. 5.62 billion has been allocated for flyover and tunnel and Rs. 3.88 billion for railway for the next fiscal year. However, when the government succeeded in building only 28 km of roads in eight months, the projects included in the budget book will turn out to be only tall talks.
Instead, when the government does not hike the pay of the civil servants amid the increasing prices of everything, corruption may further thrive. Moreover, the employees could take to the streets demanding pay hikes, which will also affect the performance of the government.
In sum, the budget has failed to instil hope among people. It has not brought any new programmes to address the woes of the people.
Auditor General’s report: High corruption activities in govt bodies
By Our Reporter
The 61st annual report of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) unveiled on Sunday has shown how financial irregularities are common in government bodies. Although the present government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoist Centre often boasts about maintaining good governance, the latest OAG report showed otherwise.
The government’s arrears increased by Rs. 95.60 billion in the fiscal year 2022/23, taking the total arrears to Rs. 669 billion as of now. In 2021/22, the arrears had jumped by Rs. 119.77 billion.
Any financial transaction carried out without providing the required documents and fulfilling the processes is listed under arrears. According to the OAG report, the arrears increased by 16.28 percent last year. In the previous year, the non-transparent amount soared by 21.45 percent.
The OAG carried out audits worth Rs. 7.881 trillion of the 5,605 state-owned enterprises, institutions and committees functioning in all three levels of governments.
Of the total amount of arrears added last year, Rs. 46.54 billion was with the institutions of the federal government, and Rs. 6.57 billion with the provincial governments.
The OAG has classified the arrears into three types: the ones which must be recovered, those which must be regularised, and advances. The report shows that the recoverable arrears make 24.47 per cent of the total amounts. Those which must be regularised are 68 percent and the amounts misappropriated make up 18 per cent.
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