Kathmandu: The Ministry of Finance has come under scrutiny for allocating a staggering Rs 90.30 billion under an opaque “Miscellaneous” heading in the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2026/27.
According to the “Red Book”, the government’s detailed estimate of expenditures presented by Finance Minister Dr Swarnim Wagle, the volume of these unspecified funds has seen a dramatic surge, raising questions about fiscal accountability and transparency.
The scale of this allocation is particularly striking when compared to recent spending patterns. In the fiscal year 2024/25, actual expenditures under this category amounted to only Rs 87.8 million, while the ministry estimates that roughly Rs 8.77 billion will be spent in the current fiscal year.
By funnelling an amount nearly eleven times higher than current estimates into this discretionary pool for the next year, Minister Wagle has centralized a massive portion of the national budget without designating specific expenditure sub-headings.
Economic experts have long criticized the practice of “hoarding” funds under miscellaneous titles, arguing that it fosters a lack of transparency and allows for the potential misuse of public resources at the Finance Minister’s personal discretion. Despite repeated warnings from stakeholders to avoid clustering large sums without specific project headers to ensure accountability, this budget suggests that the current administration is continuing, and even amplifying, a controversial practice favoured by previous governments.
This move has sparked notable disappointment among observers of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP)-led government, which had built its platform on a public commitment to dismantling systemic inefficiencies and establishing a new standard of “clean” governance. The decision to expand this opaque budgetary mechanism indicates a continuation of old practices, directly contradicting the party’s earlier promises to reform the way public money is managed.
Regarding the source of these funds, the Ministry of Finance stated that 88.80 billion NPR will be mobilized internally by the Government of Nepal, while the remaining Rs 1.50 billion will be sourced through foreign loans. However, the inclusion of loan money under a non-specific heading highlights a concerning level of uncertainty, as it suggests the government has secured international borrowing without a finalized or transparent plan for its utilization.
Defending the move, Amrit Lamsal, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance, suggested that the miscellaneous figure appears exceptionally high because it includes provisions for several “signature projects” in the industrial and information technology sectors. He indicated that while these funds have been grouped for the time being, they are intended to support strategic investments in the IT and manufacturing corridors.
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