Kathmandu, July 21: Government agencies must obtain prior approval from the Ministry of Finance before purchasing any new four-wheeled vehicle using allocated budget funds, according to the budget implementation guidelines issued on Monday.
The guidelines state that no vehicle purchase will be allowed without the ministry’s prior consent. Government bodies must also secure prior approval from the Finance Ministry before undertaking foreign visits.
Office space may be rented only if no government-owned building is available. Even then, offices must lease buildings with minimum required infrastructure located outside major commercial centers or principal roads.
Government agencies have been instructed to give priority to using vacant government buildings for official work. Any rented building must be used solely for government purposes.
The guidelines also call for maximum austerity in administrative spending, including expenses on water, electricity, telecommunications, office rent, fuel, maintenance, office supplies, stationery, allowances, training, seminars, service charges and travel. The measures are aimed at ensuring prudent use of public funds.
To improve the efficiency of the government’s payment system and cash management, ministries and agencies must prepare monthly cash flow plans and submit them to the Finance Ministry. Agencies planning payments exceeding Rs 1 billion must notify the ministry at least seven days in advance to help manage cash flow.
The guidelines also require government agencies to assess financial risks that may arise during project implementation and adopt measures to reduce those risks.
According to Finance Secretary Dr. Ghanshyam Upadhyaya, the government should strengthen systems to assess risks associated with large infrastructure projects and improve financial risk management to achieve better capital expenditure performance.
The guidelines also ask ministries and agencies to report problems encountered during budget implementation, along with their causes, to both the National Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance.
The Finance Ministry will conduct budget implementation review meetings every two months.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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