The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) has sought an additional Rs 11.2 million from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to pay the salaries of incumbent ministers as the total budget under the head of ministers´ salaries allocated for the current fiscal year has already been used up. [break]
According to officials, MoF has informed OPMCM staff that managing an additional budget for the ministers is no easy task.
"We were compelled to ask for an additional amount for ministers´ salaries," an OPMCM source said, adding, "We, however, didn´t get a prompt response from MoF. They have indicated that they can release only half the total budget sought by us, and cited budgetary limitations." The source also indicated that the budget could be released phase-wise.
The MoF source said that they are not in a position to instantly release the amount sought as there are complications in managing the budget. "We had allocated Rs 64.4 million under the head of ministers´ salaries. But the jumbo cabinet used up the annual budget within nine months. It has become a tall order for us to manage salaries for ministers, transferring amounts from other heads." The MoF source, however, said that the budget will be managed in due course.
The Madhav Kumar Nepal-led cabinet spent the Rs 64.4 million within nine months. According to figures received from the Finance Section at OPMCM, Rs 4.47 million has been spent on salaries for the 44-member cabinet each month.
According to officials, the big size of the cabinet is the key reason behind the extra burden for MoF and OPMCM in managing ministerial salaries. The present cabinet includes two deputy prime ministers, 25 ministers, 15 state ministers and two assistant ministers.
"MoF had allocated the annual budget for salaries for ministers, calculating that there would be only 25 ministers in the ongoing fiscal year," a highly placed source at MoF said, adding, "But unfortunately the size of the cabinet became larger than we expected."
OPMCM figures show that cabinet ministers including Prime Minister Nepal draw Rs 4.47 million each month, including salaries and fuel, travel and daily allowances for all cabinet members.
The prime minister receives 306 liters of fuel; a minister receives 207 liters and state ministers are provided 180 liters each month. The OPMCM provides cash to all the cabinet ministers instead of fuel.
Of the total, Rs 6 million was spent for fuel while nearly 200,000 was spent for communication facilities for ministers every month.
"This is a rare case of our facing an extra burden to manage the salaries of ministers," said an MoF source, adding, "Managing the additional budget from other heads is somehow difficult."
OPMCM, however, has not sought travel and daily allowances for ministers in its recent demand with MoF.
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