Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Capital spending by the government remains critically low at under 35%, even as the fiscal year 2025/26 draws to a close in less than two weeks.
According to the latest daily revenue and expenditure data of the government compiled by the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), only 34.87% of the allocated capital budget of Rs 407.88 million, or Rs 142.23 billion, has been spent as of June 27.
The progress in capital expenditure stands at 58.47% when the revised capital expenditure allocation of Rs 243.3 billion is taken into account.
In the last fiscal year, only 63.47% of the Rs 302 billion allocated for capital expenditure was utilized. Capital spending has averaged just around 60% over the past four years, down significantly from the pre-COVID average of 70% and far below the over-80% spending recorded in 2017/18.
The government presented a budget of Rs 1,964.11 billion for the current fiscal year in May last year. However, it trimmed the budget to Rs 1,688 billion through the mid-term review in mid-February, citing slow revenue mobilization and the need to arrange resources for the House of Representatives elections.
Overall, government spending has reached 71.54% of the total budget of Rs 1,964.11 billion. The spending progress stands at 83.24% when the revised budget of Rs 1,688 billion is taken into account.
Recurrent expenditure accounts for 80.43% of total budget utilization, with Rs 949,86 million out of Rs 1,180.98 billion already spent. Similarly, the progress in financial management, funds set aside to service public debt, stands at 83.41%.
On the other hand, the government has achieved 75.17% progress in revenue mobilization. The government has mobilized a total revenue of Rs 1,112.52 billion as of June 27. This is 76.21% of the target set in the budget. Of this, Rs 1,010.19 billion came from tax revenue, Rs 102.33 billion from non-tax revenue. The government has achieved only 45.17% in the mobilization of grants.
The government, which is struggling to raise even Rs 1,150 billion in the current fiscal year, has set an ambitious target of mobilizing Rs 1,405 billion in revenue in 2026/27.
