Kathmandu, July 10: The government released Rs 33.16 billion in public expenditure on Thursday, the final day for processing regular payments in the current fiscal year, before the payment system was formally closed.
According to the Office of the Financial Comptroller General, the large disbursement was made to settle pending government liabilities before the deadline set under financial regulations.
Of the total amount, Rs 12.42 billion was spent under recurrent expenditure, while Rs 18.39 billion was paid toward capital expenditure. Another Rs 2.35 billion was used for public debt repayment and financial management.
The government had allocated a total budget of Rs 1.964 trillion for the current fiscal year. As of Thursday, total spending had reached Rs 1.565 trillion, or 79.69 per cent of the annual budget.
Capital spending remained weak despite the last-minute surge. Of the Rs 407.88 billion allocated for development projects, only Rs 181.56 billion, or 44.51 per cent, had been spent. Thursday’s capital payments alone accounted for about 10 per cent of the total capital expenditure made during the entire fiscal year.
Under recurrent expenditure, the government spent Rs 1.043 trillion out of the allocated Rs 1.181 trillion, equivalent to 88.3 per cent. Spending on financial management reached Rs 340.72 billion against an allocation of Rs 375.24 billion, or 90.8 per cent.
New spending restricted
The government can no longer create new financial liabilities for the current fiscal year.
The Financial Procedures and Fiscal Responsibility Regulations prohibit ministries and agencies from making commitments that create new expenditure during the final week of the fiscal year. Except for emergency or essential payments, regular disbursements are also barred during the last seven days.
Rule 30 of the Financial Procedures and Fiscal Responsibility Regulations, 2020 requires all regular payments to be closed before the fiscal year ends. Only expenditure categories specifically exempted under the Appropriation Act may continue beyond the deadline.
Payments for obligations already incurred but not yet settled may still be processed if the concerned office submits the required documents to the Treasury and Accounts Controller Office. The authority to approve or reject such payments rests with the respective Treasury Controller.
Last year, the government processed about Rs 17 billion in payments during the final week of the fiscal year. In fiscal year 2023/24, the amount reached Rs 50 billion.
Nepal has long faced criticism for its practice of making a large share of annual budget payments at the end of the fiscal year, creating heavy workloads for treasury offices and raising concerns over spending efficiency and fiscal discipline.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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