April 12: As the ninth month of the current fiscal year is about to end, the state of capital expenditure of the government is disappointing. According to the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), only Rs 102 billion have been spent on the capital budget as of April 11.

The capital budget allocated for the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23) is 380.38 billion. So far, about 27 percent of the budget has been spent. The progress of the capital budget expenditure in the first and second quarters was very low. Although the expenditure has increased from the third quarter, the government now needs to spend Rs 277 billion capital budget in the remaining three months.

The capital budget expenditure in the current fiscal year is slightly higher than that in the corresponding period of last year. By mid-April last year, the government had spent Rs 98.3 billion in capital budget. In the last fiscal year, the government had allocated Rs 378 billion under the heading of capital expenditure.

This year, the government has spent Rs 883 billion as of April 11  under all headings. This is 49.26 percent of the total budget.

The government had announced a budget of Rs 1793.83 billion for the current fiscal year, which was later downsized. Majority of the budget has been allocated for current expenditure. A total of Rs 1183.23 billion has been allocated for current expenses. Since mid-July last, the government has spent Rs 692 billion in the current expenditure.

So far, the government has spent Rs 89 billion on financial management. The target is to spend Rs 230 billion this year in the financial management.

Looking at the way the government has spent the development budget in the nine months, there is no possibility that the remaining amount will be spent in the coming days.

Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said that he will increase the capital expenditure by making an action plan. According to him, the government is focused on increasing capital expenditure and reducing unnecessary expenditure.

In the short term, the government's focus will be on domestic spending. “We will reduce the unnecessary expenses of the common people," he said. According to Minister Mahat, the government will make service delivery of state effective by reducing the general expenses.

Economist Keshav Acharya says that 100 percent of the budget cannot be spent this  year as there is still a large capital budget to be spent.