Lumbini lags behind in spending; only 50% budget spent in 10 months

LUMBINI: The Lumbini Provincial Government has managed to spend only 50.27% of its budget in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year.

According to the Lumbini Provincial Treasury Controller’s Office, only Rs 21.43 billion out of the allocated Rs 42.63 billion for the fiscal year 2022/23 has been spent till the 10th month which ended in mid-May.

Although the provincial government has taken a policy of reducing last-minute spending, pressure has mounted on the province to release payments in the 11th month.

Deepak Gyawali, the provincial treasury controller, stated, “Most significant payments are typically made at the end of the fiscal year.”

Meanwhile, the office has instructed all government agencies to complete all payments by July 9, cautioning that the rush to make payments on the final day could overload the treasury office’s system and cause it to crash.

Gyawali also mentioned that many payment requests from government agencies have been rejected as such spending are higher than the budget allocated for the purpose.

The office has further directed all parties to cash government checks within the current fiscal year. In case that is not possible, it has advised them to cash the checks within 15 days of the beginning of the new fiscal year. “If checks cannot be cashed or electronic transfers fail, we request the respective offices to settle the payments with the district treasury controller offices within the first three weeks of the new fiscal year,” it added.

According to Gyawali, the treasury controller’s office can only process payments for expenses incurred in the current fiscal year within the next three weeks. “There is no possibility that all the funds of the current financial year will be spent. Based on the previous year’s experience, it appears that only about 75% of the budget will be spent,” Gyawali said.

The province has become successful in spending only 47.85% of its development budget so far. Out of the allocated Rs 24.47 billion for capital spending, only Rs 11.71 billion has been spent. In terms of recurrent expenditure, the province has spent Rs 9.2 billion out of the allocated Rs 18.15 billion.