Kathmandu, November 26

The National Planning Commission (NPC) has urged all the ministries to submit their set plans of the next fiscal along with the tentative plans for the next two consecutive fiscal years following the coming fiscal 2018-19 by mid-December to develop the mid-term expenditure framework (MTEF).

As specified by the constitution, ministries will segregate the programmes that will be executed by the lower levels of administration — provincial and local level — and propose only national level programmes, according to Khom Raj Koirala, joint secretary at the NPC.

MTEF is the medium term budget planning of the government. Through MTEF, the planning commission will have an idea of the structure of the federal budget. The federal government will implement only national level projects and programmes and the lower level of administration — provincial and local governments — will be provided grants to implement the provincial and local level programmes. The provincial and local governments will have to endorse their budget through the provincial parliament and the local level assembly, respectively.

“The provincial and local level governments must also design the programmes for the next three years in line with the national priorities to achieve the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals,” Koirala said, adding, “Provincial and local level administration will also develop medium term expenditure framework to execute their plans and programmes.”

The size of the federal budget is expected to narrow down compared to previous years as a large chunk of the grant will be transferred to the provincial and local level.