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By Our Reporter

The government failed miserably to collect the revenue it had targeted for the fiscal year 2080-81 BS (2023/24).

Not only the revenue target but also the expenditure target fell short last fiscal year.

According to the Office of the Auditor General, revenue collection was 74.29 per cent of the total target, while budget expenditures amounted to 80.44 per cent.

For the fiscal year, the government had allocated a total budget of Rs. 1,751 billion. By the end of fiscal year 2023/24, expenditures amounted to Rs. 1,408 billion.

Expenditures under the current heading amounted to Rs. 952 billion, which is 83.41 per cent of the allocated budget of Rs. 1,141 billion. Similarly, expenditures under the capital heading totaled Rs. 1,917 billion, 63.47 per cent of the allocated budget of Rs. 3,020 billion.

Under the financial management heading, expenditures totaled Rs. 2,646 billion, which is 86.07 per cent of the allocated budget of Rs. 3,074 billion for the last fiscal year.

The government had set a revenue collection target of Rs. 1,472 billion for the fiscal year, but actual collections were only Rs. 1,093 billion, making up 74.29 per cent of the target.

The government collected Rs. 944.55 million in revenue in the last fiscal year against its target of collecting Rs. 1,305 billion.

Towards non-tax, a target was set to collect Rs. 117 billion in the last fiscal year, but only Rs. 114 billion was collected.

Similarly, the government was successful to receive only 22.48 per cent foreign grants (Rs. 1,122 billion) against the target of Rs. 4,994 billion foreign grants.

The government failed to meet the goal even after amending the income and expenditure estimate twice. It revised the income and expenditure estimate through a half-yearly review for the first time and on May 28.

Of the total government expenditure, it was expected to spend Rs. 1,067 billion towards current expenditure, Rs. 215 billion towards capital expenditure and Rs. 247 billion towards financial management.

Similarly, the government had set the target of collecting revenues worth Rs. 1,253 billion in the last fiscal year following the second revision. The government had reduced the estimates of revenue and expenditure making a half-yearly review of the budget for fiscal year 2023/24 for the first time in last February.

The government had brought a budget of Rs 1,751.3 billion 312 million and 100 thousand for the fiscal year 2023/24. The government had made a revised estimate of expenditure of Rs 1,530 billion 266 million and 200 thousand or 87.38 per cent of the budget through the half-yearly evaluation of the budget.