Govt failed to get Rs 5.5b reimbursed from donors

The government has failed to secure reimbursement of expenditure worth Rs 5.5 billion from different donors as it did not mention the contribution of external assistance in the overall cost of some ongoing projects in the budget over the past few years.
“We won´t be getting reimbursement amounting to Rs 5.5 billion from different donor agencies as the finance ministry failed to clarify the exact contribution of donors in the projects that are being implemented for the past few years,” Narayan Niroula, under secretary at the Financial Comptroller General´s Office (FCGO), said.
According to Niroula, the situation emanated as the government drafted budget for projects in the fiscal plans of different years in the past without matching it with the agreements that it had inked with the donors. “Most of the projects in which the government is losing the reimbursement are in education and health sectors,” he added.
The government had prepared budget for some of the projects in those sectors without matching the commitment of the donors for the fund to implement them. “It´s a cumulative figure inherited over the past few years," Niroula said.
According to Niroula, the government is losing Rs 500 million as it failed to request concerned donor for reimbursement in time.
Most of the donors from whom the government failed to secure reimbursement are in the ´pool fund´ of the World Bank, he said.
Meanwhile, Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Secretariat under the FCGO has alleged that the government was performing poorly in management of public expenditure.
"The government is losing fund from donors due to its inefficient management of income and expenditure as per the agreement with donors,” Mahesh Prasad Dahal, joint financial comptroller general, said at an interaction organized by Society of Economic Journalists-Nepal (SEJON) on Sunday.
“It is high time the government work seriously toward ensuring the effective handling of external assistance."