Katjmandu: Finance Minister Dr Swarnim Wagle has asserted that the government has undertaken extraordinary preparations to ensure the successful execution of the upcoming fiscal year’s budget.
Since taking office, the Minister claimed to have granted unprecedented executive authority to various ministries, a strategic move aimed at significantly boosting their spending capacity and operational efficiency. By empowering these departments, he believes the government can finally overcome the administrative hurdles that have historically hindered national development.
Addressing concerns regarding the budget’s feasibility during a post-budget press conference, Dr Wagle acknowledged the historical trend where physical infrastructure spending often lingered at a dismal 24 to 25 percent even by the end of the third quarter.
To rectify this chronic underperformance, he revealed that the government has introduced a special provision within the Appropriation Bill that allows for the immediate transfer of funds. This mechanism enables the reallocation of unspent resources from stagnant projects to those in urgent need of financing, effectively removing traditional bureaucratic bottlenecks.
The Minister explained that in the past, the system suffered from a paradoxical situation where massive amounts of money remained idle in some departments while active, high-priority projects faced severe shortages. By authorizing budget transfers as early as the day after the budget presentation, the government intends to overhaul the spending system, ensuring that capital remains dynamic and reaches its intended destination without delay. He characterized this as a major systemic reform that will fundamentally improve the state’s ability to utilize its resources.
Expressing confidence in the 2.124 trillion rupee outlay, Dr Wagle urged critics and the public to refrain from scepticism during these early stages. He asked for the “benefit of the doubt,” suggesting that the true success of the budget should only be evaluated toward the end of the next fiscal year. He requested that observers wait until the final months of the cycle to review the expenditure data rather than dismissing the government’s ability to meet such ambitious spending targets right at the outset.
Finally, the Finance Minister vowed to break the cycle of announcing massive budgets only to downsize them significantly during mid-term reviews. He assured that, unlike previous years, where initial figures were often slashed by several trillion rupees, the current structural reforms would keep the spending plan intact. He concluded by stating that the government is fully committed to hitting its targets, confidently predicting that there will be no need to retreat from the 2.124 trillion rupee mark during the mid-term assessment.
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