Govt revises budget for current FY 2024/25

KATHMANDU: The government has revised its annual estimates of revenue and expenditure (budget) for the current fiscal year 2024/25 for the second time.

The government had previously revised the revenue and expenditure estimates through a mid-term budget review in January/February, and it has now revised them again.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel, while presenting the budget statement for the upcoming fiscal year 2025/26 at a joint session of the Federal Parliament today, stated that the government's revenue and expenditure for the current fiscal year have been revised.

According to Finance Minister Paudel, the government had introduced a budget of Rs 1,860.3 billion for the current fiscal year, and the revised estimate for this year's annual appropriation is now Rs 1,662.37 billion, which is 89.4% of the original allocation.

Minister Paudel stated that the revised estimates show recurrent expenditure will be 88.5% of the allocation, capital expenditure will be 84.4% of the allocation, and financial management will be 97.6% of the allocation. The government had allocated Rs 1,140.66 billion for recurrent expenses, Rs 352.35 billion for capital expenditure, and Rs 367.28 billion for financial management for the current fiscal year.

According to Finance Minister Paudel, revenue mobilisation for the current fiscal year is estimated to reach Rs 1,267.39 billion. The government's target for this year was to collect Rs 1,419.3 billion in revenue.

Similarly, the receipt of foreign grants and loans is also expected to decrease. Finance Minister Paudel stated that the government's target was to raise over Rs 52.32 billion in foreign grants for the current fiscal year, but this has now been revised, and only Rs 34.89 billion in foreign aid grants are expected to be available.

For the current fiscal year, foreign loans of Rs 169.6 billion are estimated to be mobilised as per the revised projections.