Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, January 22:

Capital expenditure (development expenditure) witnessed a whopping decline, despite the total released amount during the first six months of current fiscal year 2004-05.

According to the ministry of finance (MoF), Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) released Rs 40.42 billion in total in the first six months of the current fiscal or up to the mid-January 2005. The amount is higher by 7.2 per cent compared to the same period last fiscal year.

During the period, Rs 29.949 billion have been released under current expenditure and Rs only Rs 5.945 billion under the capital expenditure.

According to the MoF, Rs 24.827 billion has been spent under regular expenditure or current expenditure, whereas the capital expenditure stands at Rs 3.384 billion. Likewise, Rs 4.382 billion have been released for the principal capital payment during the period.

The revenue generation during the period is satisfactory, as it increased by 12.2 per cent compared to the revenue collection last year.

During the six months period, total revenue of Rs 29.834 billion was collected.