The Finance Ministry is planning to present budget – for the next fiscal year 2014-15 – a month before the usual tradition.

Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat today asked the ministry officials to prepare the budget that could be presented a month earlier than the regular schedule.

He has also informed the parliament about the government’s budget plan.

The month will give the parliament time to discuss and approve the budget so that the government can start implementation from the very first day of the fiscal year.

The budget takes around three months to get through the parliament and the process delays the budget implementation hitting the development works. The delayed implementation has not only eroded the spending capacity of the government but also productivity and quality of the development works.

But the ministry is still receiving various budgetary demands from ministries, said Budget Division chief Baikuntha Aryal.

“Discussions on the budget will start at the National Planning Commission next week,” he said, adding that consultations will start at the ministry from next month.

The planning commission has already fixed the ceiling for next fiscal year’s budget at Rs 596 billion. However, the budget size could exceed the

ceiling as always due to addition of programmes.

In the last six years, the budget has been delayed that has hit the development expenditure.

As of March 25, government has been able to spend only Rs 20.6 billion capital expenditure that is 24.22 per cent of the total allocation of Rs 85 billion. The mid-term budgetary review has revised expenditure target at Rs 71 billion.

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