April 14: The government’s arrears has increased in the last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) compared to the previous fiscal year (FY 2020/21).

According to the 60th annual report of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG), the arrears have increased based on the audit score.

The audit score, which was 1.75 percent in FY 2020/21, increased to 2.39 percent in the last fiscal year (FY 2021/22).

The OAG report states that the arrears at the federal, state and local levels during the review year stood at Rs 119.78 billion.

Compared to the previous five fiscal years, the audit score in the last FY was 2.38 percent against 5.41 percent in FY 2016/17, 5.29 in FY 2017/18, 4.05 in FY 2018/19, 2.85 in FY 2019/20 and 1.75 in FY 2020/21.

Meanwhile, the arrears has increased this year mainly due to telecommunication royalty, reduced revenue mobilization, expired mobilization fund among others.

During the last fiscal year, arrears of Rs 34.87 billion were settled while the arrears settlement this year is worth Rs 7.29 billion.