Revenue collection during the first 10 months of this fiscal year has decreased by 0.3 percent.

During this period, total revenue collection stood at Rs 52.02 billion, which is 0.3 percent less compared to the same period last year, the Finance Ministry stated in a press release.

The government had set a target of Rs 82 billion in revenue this year, 14 percent higher than last year.

The decision of the royal government to cut customs duties on 130 commercial commodities was a major cause for the decline.

The government had reduced average customs duties to 8 percent from 9.6 percent through the Finance Ordinance during the mid-term review, saying it would help increase revenue mobilization.

The government expenditure rose by 13.4 percent during the period.

From the current budget, Rs 46.77 billion has been spent under recurrent expenditure and Rs 11.12 billion under capital expenditure, whereas Rs 10.02 billion has been used for paying off principal debt. The central bank had released Rs 52.46 billion under the recurrent expenditure and Rs 13.27 billion under the capital expenditure.