Kathmandu. In the last fiscal year 2081/82, both the government’s income and expenditure have been weak. According to data from the Office of the Controller General of Accounts, the government’s income has shrunk to 82 percent and expenditure to 81 percent against the annual target.

For the last fiscal year, the government had presented a budget of Rs 1,860.30 billion. A total of Rs 1,523.10 billion has been spent till mid-July. The government could not spend Rs 337.19 billion in the allocated budget. The government spent only 81.87 percent of the annual target in the last fiscal year. The government has allocated Rs 1,140.66 billion for the last fiscal year under the current head, of which 85.95 percent or Rs 980.28 billion has been spent.

Similarly, 63.2 per cent or Rs 222.68 billion has been spent on capital expenditure of Rs 352.35 billion. According to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, 87.14 per cent or Rs 320.42 billion has been spent on financial management.

The government’s income is also much lower than the target. The government has collected only 82.88 per cent or Rs 1,219.71 billion against the target of Rs 1,471.62 billion for the last fiscal year. In this way, comparing the income and expenditure situation of the government, rs 303.38 billion more has been spent than the income.

Only 83.06 per cent progress has been achieved against the target of Rs 1,419.30 billion set for the last fiscal year. The government has been able to collect only Rs 1,178.82 billion in revenue. Of this, 81.75 percent of the annual target of tax revenue i.e. Rs 1,049.87 billion and non-tax revenue of 95.45 percent i.e. Rs 128.94 billion have been collected, according to data from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s Office.

Similarly, only 44.97 percent progress has been seen in receiving foreign grants. The government, which had set a target of receiving Rs 52.32 billion in foreign aid for the last fiscal year, has been able to collect only Rs 23.52 billion, less than half of the target.

In this way, looking at the situation of income and expenditure, it has been seen that the government has not been able to achieve the target even after revising the target twice. The government had reduced the income and expenditure estimates for the first time in January last year and for the second time in May last year while presenting the budget for the current fiscal year 2082/83 BS through mid-term review.

According to the government’s estimates in May last year, 89.4 percent of the initial annual allocation or Rs 1,662.37 billion was expected to be spent in the last fiscal year. While the actual expenditure has shrunk by about Rs 14 trillion from the target of one and a half months ago.

The government had in May last year projected 88.5 per cent for current expenditure, 84.4 per cent for capital expenditure and 97.6 per cent for fiscal management. Similarly, the revenue mobilisation was estimated at Rs 1,267.39 billion for the second time.