By Our Reporter

The Finance Ministry has slashed the revenue and expenditure targets as it failed to meet the estimated targets in the budget of the current fiscal year.

Presenting the 'Half-Yearly Assessment Report of Budget Implementation for the Fiscal Year 2081/82' at the meeting of the National Assembly last week, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel has confessed that the government was unable to meet the estimated revenue collection target and thus, slashed the expenditure target.

Minister Paudel informed that the revised estimate for total spending in the current fiscal year is around Rs 16 trillion 92 billion and 730 million, whereas the initial estimate was Rs 18 trillion 60 billion and 3 million.

In recent years, it has become a fashion to present ambitious and populist budgets and later amend the revenue/expenditure targets by showing different reasons.

Minister Poudel said that the government's adopted policy arrangements and reform efforts, along with external balance, sufficient liquidity, and assurance of low interest rates, are expected to lead to an increase in economic activities and bring us closer to the economic growth rate target for this year.     

He claimed that continuous improvement efforts in public financial management systems and implementation of accounting and reporting systems according to international standards have increased the transparency and reliability of the financial system.     

During the review period, overall expenditure has increased by 17.66% compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year. The Finance Minister mentioned that there has not been significant improvement in capital expenditure, which serves as a driver for economic growth, and that it is expected to remain sluggish until the middle of the fiscal year.