Kathmandu:  Due to the budget holiday, the government will not be able to spend the budget from Thursday. The government and the opposition have not reached an agreement on the conduct of the parliamentary proceedings. The government has spent around Rs 15 billion on Wednesday alone due to fears of a budget holiday.

According to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Rs 14.87 billion has been spent from government funds on Wednesday. Out of the amount spent, Rs 8.70 billion was spent on current expenditure and Rs 6 billion on financial management, according to the Office of the Comptroller. Statistics show that Rs. 160 million has been spent on capital. Now the meeting of the parliament has been called on 20 September. The government is not allowed to spend the budget during this period. The government had brought a replacement bill on September  7 as the budget from the ordinance was approaching. Only after the bill is passed by the parliament will the government be able to spend the budget.

The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General had directed to stop all payments except for the mandatory obligation for three days with effect from September 16. A large amount of money has been spent on the same day on Wednesday after the payment was stopped. Most of the current expenditure is spent on salary allowance.

This is the first time in the history of Nepal. This situation has come after the main opposition party UML withdrew from presenting and passing the budget ordinance issued when it was in power. Despite the UML’s obstruction, the ruling party did not want to use force while passing the ordinance.