Kathmandu: The government of Nepal’s budget deficit for the current fiscal year 2022/23 has exceeded Rs 156.44 billion, according to the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO).
As of mid-March, the government has spent Rs 779 billion 230 million of its budget, while revenue collection has remained at Rs 622.78 billion. The statistics reveal that government expenditure has exceeded its income, resulting in a deficit. The government has only achieved 42.7 percent of its annual revenue collection target, and only 43.44 percent of its budget expenditure target has been met so far.
For the fiscal year 2022/23, the government had introduced an annual budget of Rs 1793 billion, but due to falling short of the target, the government considered reducing the budget size by 14 percent and maintained it at Rs 1.549 trillion through a half-yearly review. The current expenditure of the government is 51.46 percent, with capital expenditure at 22.15 percent and expenditure towards fiscal management at 37.41 percent.
As of mid-March, the expenditure under the current expenditure heading is equivalent to Rs 608.84 billion out of the annual allocation of Rs 1183.23 billion under this heading. Likewise, 22.15 percent of the total annual allocation has been spent under the capital expenditure heading, with Rs 84.25 billion spent out of the total annual allocation of Rs 380.38 billion. The government has allocated an annual budget of Rs 230.21 billion towards the financial management heading, with an expenditure of Rs 86.12 billion until March 14.
According to the Comptroller General Office, the expenditure towards financial management is higher than that of capital expenditure during the eight-month period. The government revenue collection until March 14 is only equivalent to 42.7 percent of the annual revenue collection target. The government has set a target of raising Rs 1458.60 billion this year, but only Rs 622.78 billion revenue has been collected so far. Internal revenue collection is 41.53 percent, or Rs 582.77 billion, and the government aims to accept foreign assistance of Rs 55.45 billion this year, of which it has received 8.66 percent, or Rs 4.80 billion.
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