Govt bill to spend Rs 73b passed

Govt bill to spend Rs 73b passed
ekantipur, 14-Jul-08

A meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) on Monday passed a special bill that authorizes the government, in the absence of a fiscal year budget, to incur expenditures totaling Rs 73.54 billion in the new fiscal year that begins from July 16.

Of the total, the government has proposed Rs 26.6 billion under a non-votable head, in an allocation for different sub-sectors over the whole fiscal year. The new financial arrangement that was tabled by Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat has allocated Rs 25.96 billion, almost 97.6 percent, to service domestic and foreign loans during the next fiscal year. Likewise, the government has also earmarked Rs 2.5 million and Rs 2 million for the first president and vice-president respectively of the democratic republic of Nepal.

Similarly, the government has proposed Rs 46.94 billion under the votable head, an amount equivalent to one-third of the real expenditure of the current fiscal.

The endorsement will allow the government to incur expenditures. Education will absorb the largest chunk of Rs 9.48 billion followed by Rs 4.70 billion for internal security and Rs 4.05 billion for infrastructure development under the Ministry of Physical Planning and Construction.

Likewise, following endorsement of the bill, the government will have the authority to impose taxes and collect revenue as per the arrangements made in the Finance Act 2007.

If revenue collected during the period remains insufficient to meet planned expenditures, the government will have the authority to mobilize overdrafts equivalent to 5 percent of the total revenue mobilized in the current fiscal year. "However, such overdrafts will be included in internal loans under the upcoming budget for year 2008/09," states the special bill.

Informing the CA meeting about the major economic activities of the current fiscal year, Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat said that creeping inflation and soaring petroleum losses are major concerns that can pose a challenge to future macro-economic stability.

He further informed that the government had to bear an additional burden of Rs 5 billion due to the emergence of unexpected financial obligations while settling political differences among various parties. However, he praised the revenue administration, which was able to mobilize revenue of Rs 107 billion, which is more than the annual target of Rs 103.66 billion.