Government Spends Less Than One-Fifth of Development Budget in Eight Months

The government has spent only about 19 percent of its development budget in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, indicating slow progress in capital expenditure.

Data released by the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) show that capital expenditure stood at 19.24 percent by mid-March.

The government had earmarked a budget of Rs 407.89 billion under this heading, out of which it spent only Rs 78.45 billion, according to the FCGO.

The federal government had announced a total budget of Rs 1,964.11 billion for the current fiscal year. Of this amount, the government has spent Rs 926.59 billion by mid-March, accounting for 47.18 percent of the total annual budget.

Under the recurrent expenditure heading, 54.37 percent of the allocated budget has been spent. The government had allocated Rs 1,180.98 billion for recurrent expenditure in the current fiscal year.

Similarly, under the financial management heading, the government has spent 54.89 percent of the allocated Rs 375.24 billion, amounting to Rs 205.95 billion so far.

Meanwhile, revenue mobilisation has also reached nearly half of the annual target. The government has collected 49.89 percent of the revenue target by mid-March.

The government had set a revenue target of Rs 1,533.45 billion for the current fiscal year, of which Rs 765.10 billion has been collected by mid-March, the FCGO data show. – With inputs from RSS