Kathmandu. With only two months left to the end of the financial year, the government has collected only half of the target revenue. However, the expenditure has been about 60 percent. Due to the huge gap between expenditure and income, the government has seen a huge budget deficit.
According to the Comptroller General’s Office, in the 10 months of the current fiscal year, the government has earned 7 trillion 97 billion 345.8 million rupees while spending 10 trillion 47 billion 76 million 10 million rupees. In this sense, the government has seen a net loss of 2.5 trillion rupees.
According to the data of the Comptroller General, when the current expenditure is more than the revenue collection of the government, it seems that it will be difficult for the government to meet the ordinary expenditure. Since the capital expenditure has been low since the past, even in the current economy, the revenue collection for the government is low, and the development expenditure has been slow. By the end of April, the current expenditure of the government is 20 billion rupees more than the total revenue. Experts say that it will be difficult to increase the capital expenditure till the end of the financial year when the government is finding it difficult to meet the ordinary expenses. However, the old tradition of spending at the end of the financial year and paying for completed projects may lead to a sudden increase in capital expenditure.
In the period of two months, the government can spend more than 7 trillion rupees from the allocation budget. However, the source is not certain. According to the data of the Comptroller General’s Office, only 53.9 percent of the target, i.e. 7 trillion 56 billion 253 million rupees, has been collected till the end of April. The government had set a target of earning 14 trillion 3 billion 147 million rupees in the current financial year. Out of which, 12 trillion 95 billion 37 billion 58 million from tax income, 1 trillion 77 billion 7 billion from non-tax income, 55 billion 45 billion 83 million rupees from grants.
Among these targets, in the period of 10 months, 6 trillion 84 billion 63 crore 46 lakhs i.e. 52.85 percent for tax income, 71 billion 618 million rupees i.e. 66.45 percent for non-tax income, 4 billion 80 million rupees for grants i.e. 8.66 percent and 36 billion for others. It has earned 297 million rupees.
Similarly, during the same period, the government spent 7 trillion 86 billion 74 billion 26 million rupees, i.e. 66.49 percent, on capital side, 1 trillion 25 billion 67 billion 96 million rupees, i.e. 33.04 percent, and 1 trillion 35 billion 33 crore 88 million rupees, i.e. 58.04 percent, on financial management. 10 trillion 47 billion 76 million 10 million rupees, which is 79 percent, ie 58.41 percent of the allocated budget has been spent.
The government has estimated that 17 trillion 93 billion 83 billion 73 million rupees will be spent in the current financial year. In which 11 trillion 83 billion 23 billion 51 million rupees have been spent on current, 3 trillion 80 billion 38 billion 45 million rupees on capital and 2 trillion 30 billion 217 million rupees on financial management. Internal revenue collection up to the third quarter of the current financial year 2079/80 is 5.5 billion lower than the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the total debt of the government has reached 20 trillion 13 billion 296 million rupees. According to the 60th annual report of the Auditor General, the external debt is 10 trillion 25 billion 8471 million and the internal debt is 9 trillion 87 billion 4493 million.
According to the General Account, this year the debt liability has increased by 2 trillion 75 billion 65 billion 96 lakh, i.e. 15.86 percent increase compared to the previous year. Out of the total debt, external debt is 50.95 percent and internal debt is 49.05 percent. The debt to GDP ratio has reached 41 percent. In the financial year 2076-77, this ratio was 38.005 and in 2077-78 it was 40.73 percent.