November 10: The National Planning Commission (NPC) has advised the government to develop a separate committee to deal with the issues related to arrears and find an effective way for its settlement. It has also suggested the government to improve the public finance management system.    
 According to a study report prepared by the National Planning Commission, the government requires a separate body to address overdue issues. The report entitled ‘Study Report on the Situation of Public Auditing and Settlement of Arrears in Nepal, 2079 BS' has proposed the government to have a separate body for looking after the issues of arrears.    
The 59th annual report of the Auditor General, 2079 BS puts the arrears till the fiscal 2020-21 at over Rs 829 billion. The report says that the overdue amount in the review year increased by Rs over 115 billion.    
The NPC report mentions about the lack of enough discussions on the report of the Auditor General in parliamentary committee, indicating the need for making the account officer more responsible for arrears management and increasing the effectiveness of monitoring and supervision in the relevant sector.    
According to NPC Spokesperson Rajendra Kumar Poudel, the size of arrears is increasing in recent years and its impacts are visible in the public finance management, prompting the urgent need to control it in time.    
The report points out the need for identification and pre-preparations before incorporating plans and policies in the budget, stating that coordination among the periodic plans, government policies and programmes and the budget were missing and it caused challenges to the management of arrears.    
 The lack of fiscal discipline, the agreement for multi-year projects without permission, and the lack of effective monitoring and supervision are among other factors fueling the problem, it has been stated in the report. -- RSS