Nepali Finance Minister Surendra Pandey, on behalf of the government, presented the budget for the fiscal year 2009/2010 of around 286 billion Nepali rupees (some 3. 6 billion US dollars) on Monday in the legislative parliament.
Nepali fiscal year starts in every mid-July.
Of the total expenditure, recurrent expenditure is estimated to at 160.63 billion Nepali rupees (some 2 billion US dollars) (56. 18 percent) and capital expenditure as 106.285 billion rupees ( some 1.33 billion US dollars) (37.17 percent). Likewise, Principal Repayment is estimated to be 19.013 billion rupees (some 0.24 billion US dollars) (6.65 percent). The proposed expenditure is higher by 33.87 percent than the revised estimate of the current fiscal year.
Of the total expenditure, Minister Pandey has proposed 135.583 billion rupees (some 1.7 billion US dollars) (47.42 percent) for general administration and 150.348 billion rupees (some 1.9 billion US dollars) (52.58 percent) for development related expenses.
Out of the estimated sources of financing of the budget for new fiscal year, 161.074 billion rupees (around 2 billion US dollars) will be borne from the current source of revenue. Foreign assistance, including foreign grants and foreign loans, is expected to reach 78.516 billion rupees (some 1 billion US dollars). The estimated budget deficit for the coming fiscal year stands at 46.340 billion rupees (some 0.6 billion US dollars).
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, ministers and majority of the lawmakers from most of the parties in the parliament are present in the House, but only four lawmakers from the main opposition and single largest party in the house, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (UCPN-M) are attending.
The budget was passed by a cabinet meeting earlier on Monday.
Senior leader of the CPN-UML Madhav Kumar Nepal was elected the prime minister on May 23, following UCPN-M chairman Prachanda declared to resign on May 4 over the army chief row. However, after times of expansion, the cabinet has not got its full shape.