Growing arrears show bad governance

The increasing rate of arrears in the use of taxpayer money is an immense disrespect to the people.

On July 15, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) submitted its 57th annual report to President Bidya Devi Bhandari, highlighting the growing trend of running arrears in government agencies. The report said that it audited 5,619 institutions this year, which included federal, provincial and local government agencies. The total amount the OAG audited for this fiscal year amounted to Rs5,171,649,800,000. The federal government accounted for 4.05 percent of the arrears, provincial governments 4.33 percent and local governments 5.25 percent. The federal Finance, Defence, and Physical Infrastructure and Transport Management ministries had the largest amounts outstanding.