Government spending mounts

Kathmandu, May 2:

In the first ninth months of the current fiscal year, government expenditure has risen to Rs 58.30 billion which is an increase of over 11 per cent, compared to the same period last year, says a press statement issued by the ministry of finance (MoF).

The MoF disclosed that the growth rate in revenue collection during the current fiscal stood only at 0.1 per cent. This has created fears for a liquidity crisis.

As per the press statement, in the current fiscal year, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) released money amounting to Rs 68.80 billion. The amount released by the central bank is higher by 14.3 per cent compared to the previous fiscal. Of the released amount, over Rs 48.34 billion came under the current expenditure and Rs 12.02 billion under capital expenditure financing, according to the MoF.

Revenue mobilisation, as per the government report, stood at over Rs 46 during this period, despite the government target to collect over Rs 82 billion. The target is 15 per cent higher in comparison to the previous year.

Of the total released amount, over Rs 42.38 billion has already been spent under recurrent expenditure while over Rs 9.33 billion has been spent under capital expenditure.