Finance Minister Vows to Address Unnatural Figures in Budgeting
Summary
Reviewed and prepared.
- Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle acknowledged a tendency to include unnatural figures in the budget and promised to correct it.
- Despite the government allocating over NPR 19.5 trillion, actual expenditure is expected to be limited to around NPR 16 trillion.
- He anticipates the highest ever capital expenditure in the current fiscal year but admits there are challenges in resource mobilization.
April 11, Kathmandu – Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle has stated that there is a prevailing practice of presenting unnatural figures in the budget and vowed to improve this. Speaking at a meeting of the House of Representatives Finance Committee, he indicated that although the current government has allocated a budget exceeding NPR 19.5 trillion, actual spending is realistically limited to around NPR 16 trillion.
He explained that this situation has been caused by the long-standing practice of inserting unrealistic numbers during budget formulation. Specifically, capital expenditures are expected to reach only about NPR 2 trillion, an amount insufficient to meet the government’s economic objectives. Hence, private sector investment is essential for economic growth, he added.
Minister Wagle mentioned that the budget allocation is approximately NPR 18.9 trillion for this fiscal year, acknowledging substantial challenges in mobilizing resources. He shared that only around NPR 13 trillion is expected to be collected through revenue, highlighting the major challenge of arranging the remaining resources exceeding NPR 7 trillion.
Efforts are underway on an emergency basis to increase budget expenditures in the current fiscal year. He anticipates that capital expenditure will reach the highest level ever recorded by the end of mid-July.