6% of capital budget spent in first 5 months

Kathmandu December 30- Ministry of Finance said that the government needs to reprioritize national priority projects as a mere 6 percent of the capital budget has been spent as of the first five months of the fiscal year.

According to the ministry, only Rs11.68 billion of the capital budget has been used against the allocation of Rs208 billion for the whole year. The government has also missed the revenue collection target for the review period by Rs50 billion, the Finance Ministry said in a press release.

Revenue collection totalled Rs112.81 billion against the goal of Rs162.59 billion as a result of supply contraints caused by the Indian trade blockade. Import-based revenue collection has fallen short by Rs31 billion, according to the ministry.

The revenue collection target set for the Inland Revenue Department was Rs57.36 billion but it was able to earn just Rs47.13 billion. Likewise, the Department of Customs collected Rs46.47 billion against the target of Rs78.23 billion.

The ministry said that although the blockade had been loosened on a few occasions between mid-November and mid-December, revenue collection would not improve until Birgunj Customs, the country’s main border point, was opened. The govenrment receives almost half of its customs revenue from this office.