Sudurpaschim Provincial government accelerates preparations for fiscal year 2083-84 BS budget

Dhangadhi: The Sudurpaschim Provincial Government has begun preparations for the budget of the upcoming fiscal year, becoming the first province in the country to initiate the process for 2083-84, according to the performance evaluation conducted by the Natural Resources and Finance Commission.

Arjun Khadka, Information Officer at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, stated that an equalization grant of nine billion rupees from the federal government has been secured for the province, and preparations for the budget are actively underway. He added that the Resource Estimates Committee is working on drafting the upcoming budget.

The province, which ranked first in the performance evaluation with a total score of 45.70, will also receive an additional equalization grant of 137 million rupees for the next fiscal year. In the current fiscal year, Sudurpaschim had received an equalization grant of 8.925 billion rupees.

Meanwhile, budget expenditure progress for the current fiscal year has been slow. The Genji movement and the House of Representatives elections held in Falgun affected implementation, resulting in lower-than-expected utilization. Until the second quarter, only 1.97 billion rupees (9.99 percent) of the capital budget of 13.60 billion rupees (2.02 percent of total budget) has been spent. Overall, of the total budget of 33.43 billion rupees, the provincial government has spent 5.67 billion rupees (16.97 percent).

Minister of State for Economic Affairs Prakash Bahadur Bam attributed the low expenditure to delays caused by the Genji movement and restrictions due to the election code of conduct. He expressed confidence that budget implementation will now accelerate as tenders have been issued and instructions provided for works to be executed by consumer committees.

In the previous fiscal year, the provincial government had utilized 74 percent of the budget. Although this year’s full utilization may not be possible, it is expected to exceed 60 percent.

Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Hira Singh Sarki stated that the government is focused on maximizing expenditure of the remaining budget. He said, “It could not be done earlier as employees were deployed for elections, but now our priority is to utilize the remaining budget efficiently.” He added that the Council of Ministers is holding regular discussions on strategies to achieve this goal.