A budget that overlooks federalism

The government prioritises strengthening federalism, but the policies don’t reflect that.

Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun on Tuesday presented a budget of Rs1,860 billion for Fiscal Year 2024-25, a 6.2 percent increase from FY 2023-24. The FY 2023-24 budget was Rs1,751 billion, but mid-year adjustments reduced it to Rs1,530 billion. As of Tuesday, only Rs1,116 billion (63.72 percent) had been spent, with just a month and a half remaining of the current fiscal year. This raises concerns about meeting expenditure expectations and the rationale behind such a large budget.