Budget’s Mid-term Review: Province Governments’ Spending ‘Dismal’ with 14 Percent

The spending status of province governments has appeared disappointing despite over half time of the current fiscal year has elapsed.

According to the ‘Mid-Term Evaluation Report of the Budget of FY 2082/83 BS’ unveiled by the Ministry of Finance today, the spending pattern of provinces seems dismal.

For the current fiscal year, the aggregated budget earmarked for all seven provinces was Rs 287 billion 703.3 million, of which only 14.16 percent had been spent by the end of Poush (mid-January 2026) of the FY 2082/83 BS.

According to the report, provinces had spent only 21.43 percent towards recurrent category and 9.33 percent towards capital category. The report has stated that out of Rs 975 million appropriated for financial management category at the provincial level, no expenditure was recorded by mid-January.

The Madhesh Province made the lowest capital expenditure with 3.36 percent, while Lumbini Province showed the highest capital expenditure with 18.04 percent.

The particularly weak state of capital spending, which is directly linked to development and structural transformation, has also raised questions about the absorbing capacity of the provinces.

Provincially, Bagmati Province appears comparatively progressive in terms of expenditure. Bagmati had a budget of Rs 6 billion 747.73 million this year and spent 14.20 percent of the total budget by mid-January.

The Bagmati Province made 22.48 percent spending towards recurrent and 8.99 percent towards capital category.

The weakest performance has been seen in Madhesh Province. Madhesh has spent only 7.71 percent of the total budget. The province, which came up with a budget of Rs 46 billion 983.4 million for the current fiscal year, has only been able to spend Rs 3 billion 623.6 million during the reporting period. (RSS)