KATHMANDU, Jan 7: The government carried out budget transfers multiple times totaling Rs 290 million in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (FY), although the law bars government bodies from such practices during the given timeframe.
Almost every year, the government breaches its own rules in relation to the budget transfers under various pretexts. In FY 2024/25 too, funds of Rs 2.51 billion were transferred including the amounts for grant subsidies for farmers producing milk and sugarcane during mid-July and mid-October.
The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) underlines budget transfers as one of the means for increasing cases of irregularities in the bureaucratic system. The Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) has even barred all three tiers of government from making unnecessary expenses in the last week of the fiscal year.
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In its latest 62th annual report, the OAG has reiterated its concerns about the need to end fiscal indiscipline in the government’s budget system. The constitutional organ has talked about ending budget transfers in the first quarter and last few weeks, cash transfers to unlisted projects in the annual budget and transfer of funds allocated for national pride projects.
Budget transfer means moving funds from one assigned program or another. Almost every year, government agencies seek to adjust budgetary allocations after being unable to spend the earmarked money.
The records with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) show that government bodies made budget transfers of Rs 7.805 billion in the five months (mid-July and mid-December) in the current fiscal year. While the MoF itself made cash transfers of Rs 935.05 million from funds allocated under ‘miscellaneous’ heading, transfers of Rs 6.87 billion were carried out by various government ministries.
The government carried out the budget transfers this year on the pretext of the September 8-9 Gen Z movement. In the second week of October, 2025, the government decided to transfer budgets in view of the urgency of reconstructing public infrastructures in the aftermath of the Gen Z protest as well as providing relief materials and expediting economic recovery.
Tanka Prasad Pandey, spokesperson for the MoF, said the budget transfers were made only to meet the new and mandatory financial liabilities created to the government.
“In some cases, limited funds were allocated to certain projects due to errors, or the government faced unplanned financial liabilities, making budget transfers necessary,” Pandey said.
