KABUL (SW): The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has acknowledged that the utilization of development budget by various government entities has slightly improved this year.
Ziauddin Haleemi, director for budgetary affairs at the MoF, informed Salam Watandar that the utilization of development budget in the first nine months of this year is higher than the same period last year. He said last year only 29 per cent of the development budget was utilized, but this year that has swollen to 31, and it is hoped by the end of this month it would further improve to 41 per cent.
The MoF officials noted that the target is to ensure utilization of up to 61 per cent of the development budget by end of the fiscal year. Last year, only 54 per cent of the development budget was utilized. Haleemi informed that the MoF is on top of the list with 68 per cent utilization of the development budget so far while the Ministry of Education (MoE) is at the bottom with only 18 per cent utilization of the development budget so far.
When contacted, Mujib Meherdad, spokesman for the MoE, said the delay in procurements and slow pace of work by some construction companies are major hurdles in this regard. He said some 200 development projects were referred to the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing Ministry via a presidential decree, but have now been transferred back to the MoE. He promised the MoE would improve its utilization of the development budget.
This comes as the parliament has once again raised concerns over prospects of proper utilization of the development budget.
ENDS
