Revenues increase 26pc, expenditures up 20pc

The long-sluggish Nepali economy has finally got some reason to celebrate, despite some hiccups witnessed in the political front. After recording a seven-year high economic growth, revenue collection, which finances more 60 percent of the total government expenditures, registered a robust growth of 26.5 percent, more than what the annual budget had targeted, by the end of the eleventh month of the current fiscal year.

Tabulated statistics prepared by the Ministry of Finance showed that total revenue collection by mid-June was Rs 90.17 billion, Rs 4.75 billion more than the target set for the eleven months of the current fiscal year.

Overall tax revenue, during the period, stood at Rs 74.62 billion, a 23.7 percent rise compared to the same period last year while mobilization of non-tax revenue recorded a quantum leap of almost 42 percent to Rs 15.55 billion.

Of the six major sources for tax revenue, collection of registration fee witnessed a gigantic jump of almost 39 percent to Rs 3.33 billion, thanks to rapid growth in trade of fixed assets, like real-estate and vehicles.

With an impressive growth of almost 30 percent, revenue form income tax stood at Rs 14.54 billion whereas the total collection of the sector was Rs 11.20 billion during the same period last year.

“A robust growth in collection of income tax from the public corporate institutions, mainly the financial institutions, boosted the overall mobilization,” an official of the Ministry of Finance said.

Similarly, revenue collection from customs also demonstrated a healthy growth of 21.21 percent to Rs 18 billion against the Rs 14.46 billion mobilized during the same period last year. Despite a pessimistic decline in mobilization of customs from exports, double-digit growth in collection from imports and Indian Excise Duty refunds helped push up the numbers. Rapidly growing consumption expenditures propped up mainly by strong remittance income that played a crucial role in increasing fuel imports, according to experts.

The positive impact of improved consumption was also reflected in the collection of VAT, which is the single largest contributor to the national revenue coffers. Total VAT collection during the period was Rs 28 billion, which was almost 19 percent higher than the figures recorded during the same period last year. Collection through excise duty also went up by 24.5 percent to Rs 9.4 billion whereas total collection from the sector during same period last year was Rs 7.56 billion.

Along with the robust growth in revenue collection, total government expenditures also swelled by almost 20 percent to Rs 1.15 billion. Of the total expenditures, Rs 73 billion was spent for recurrent expenditures and Rs 28 billion for the capital expenditure, while the remaining Rs 13.96 billion was used for repaying of principals of loans.
Source: eKantipur