Minister of State for Finance Dr Roop Jyoti (File photo)

Minister of State for Finance Dr Roop Jyoti (File photo)
The widening gap between revenue collection and government expenditure has caused serious problem on fiscal balance.

According to the data released by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on Tuesday, the growth rate of revenue mobilization during the first seven months of the current fiscal year remained at 2.9 percent to Rs 35.82 billion. The government in its budget had vowed to achieve a growth of around 15 percent during the current fiscal year, according to report.

Minister of State for Finance, Dr Roop Jyoti, in the recently promulgated finance ordinance had made massive adjustments in customs tariff, claiming that such adjustment would discourage under-invoicing and informal channels, which in turn would contribute to realizing higher revenue.

The average revenue growth rate in the seven months of last five years was over 15 percent, the report quoted an official as saying.

A press release issued by the MoF said that of the total revenue mobilization, Rs 30.69 billion was collected from tax revenue while the remaining Rs 5.13 billion came from non-tax revenue sources.

According to MoF, the total government expenditure during the period soared to Rs 43.68 billion, which was 14.7 percent more than similar expenditures recorded last year.

Of the total expenditure, Rs 33.32 billion went for recurrent expenditure, Rs 5.97 billion for capital expenditure and remaining Rs 4.38 billion for repayment of principal.

Of the total, Rs 53.44 billion released by the Nepal Rastra Bank during the period, Rs 39.23 billion was released under recurrent expenditure while Rs 8.89 billion under capital expenditure and remaining Rs 6.21 billion for repayment of principals.