April 26: The government must mandatorily publish the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2023/24) within one month from now.

The National Planning Commission (NPC) has lowered ceiling for the budget of upcoming fiscal year compared to the current fiscal year. With the reduction in the budget ceiling of the ministries involved in development activities, these ministries have now started to change the priorities in their plans and programs for the upcoming year.

The budget ceiling of the Ministry of Physical, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has been lowered for the upcoming year.

The NPC has significantly reduced the budget of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, which has the highest budget allocation in the current fiscal year. The budget of this ministry in the current fiscal year is Rs 167 billion. However, the NPC has slashed Rs 54 billion and set a ceiling of Rs 113 billion for this ministry for the coming year.

Minister Prakash Jwala said that the significant reduction in the budget ceiling of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, which has the highest among all the ministries, will pose a challenge for development works.

"If the ceiling is set lower than the current one, the passion and enthusiasm to work will be reduced," he said. However, the minister said that he will make the best use of the available budget.

On the other hand, the officials of the ministries that look after water resources, roads, urban development and infrastructure have said that they will amend the existing program and will not push for new plans.

The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, which received a third of its budget compared to the current FY, has plans for immediate completion of the ongoing works.

Krishna Nepal, joint secretary of the ministry, informed that the NPC has set a budget ceiling of Rs 28 billion for the ministry. In the current year, this ministry has received a budget of Rs 42 billion.

"Multi-year projects currently under construction and programs of low importance have not been prioritized because they do not bring immediate returns," said Nepal.

Similarly, Urban Development Ministry’s Information Officer Suresh Kumar Wagle said that the ceiling has been reduced by Rs 4.22 billion compared to the current year. He said that some changes have been made in the priorities.

"No new programs will be added for the coming year," said Wagle.

Teknarayan Paudel, joint-spokesperson of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, said that the budget ceiling has decreased by 40 percent compared to this year. He said that there will be a problem in continuing the work done this year because the budget has decreased.

The ceiling of the Ministry of Water Supply has also decreased. In the current year, this ministry has received a budget of Rs 20.21 billion while the ceiling for the next year has been set at Rs 15 billion, the ministry said.

The NPC has set a total budget ceiling of Rs 1688.4 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. The total budget announced of the current fiscal year was Rs 1793 billion which was later downsized to Rs 1549.99 billion. The ceiling for the coming year is higher than the revised budget.

Meanwhile, an official of the NPC said that due to the increase in the interest rate of internal debt, the budget of the development projects has been reduced as there is no situation to take new loans.

To make up for the deficit budget, the government has already taken internal loans of around Rs 250 billion.

The official said that the budget ceiling had to be reduced due to the pressure on revenue collection and the increase in government’s current expenditure.