KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 17

Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has directed all ministries to spend 30 per cent of their budget within one month.

Stating that the lack of capital expenditure has also resulted in the liquidity crunch in the country, he said, 'No ministry is allowed to dilly-dally in implementing the budget, including the Ministry of Finance.'

The minister's direction has come at a time when the country's capital expenditure up to today is paltry 6.51 per cent of the total allocation for this fiscal year. While recurrent expenditure stood at 31.79 per cent, the financing expenditure was 21.8 per cent. The total expenditure of the government in the five-month period stood at 23.83 per cent, as per the Financial Comptroller General Office.

Vowing to take necessary measures and to facilitate other ministries to accelerate their budget spending, the finance minister said, 'Thirty per cent of the budget allocated to the respective ministries should be spent within one month.'

Minister Sharma said so during an inter-ministerial discussion held here at the Ministry of Finance today.

Warning that the budget could be reallocated in case any ministry is found to be failing to meet the spending target during the quarterly review, he was firm on ending the trend of releasing budget towards fiscal-end.

The finance minister also directed prompt delivery of government services.

Present on the occasion were, among others, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Renu Kumari Yadav, Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada and Minister for Water Supply Umakanta Chaudhary.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 18, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.