Govt unaware of spending under TA

KATHMANDU, APR 20 - The government has little information about a large portion of technical assistance (TA) that it receives from donors.

The government received Rs 84.48 billion under TA in the last fiscal year, but it is not known in which sectors the amount is

spent, according to the latest report of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG).

It is also not clear through which agencies Rs 27.73 billion of the total aid amount is spent, states the 51th Annual Report of the OAG. The amount is related to 95 agreements signed between the government and donors. TA is usually used for jobs including carrying out detail project report study of large projects, capacity enhancement of domestic institutions and individuals and for consultancy services.

The Financial Procedure Act states government agencies and ministries should submit the details of the income and expenditure, including TA, to the OAG. “The government’s failure to do so resulted in non-transparency in income and expenditure of such aid,” the report states.

This is not the first time the OAG has raised question over non-transparency of TA. The 50th OAG Annual Report had said there was no information about where 94.53 percent of TA received in 2011-12 would be spent. Also, it was not clear in which areas Rs 58.76 billion out of Rs 62.16 billion TA commitment, was spent.

The OAG report also says the TA is not audited. The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had directed the government to have TA audited, but the directive was not honoured, the report reads.

“Until the previous fiscal year, there was non-transparency about where technical assistance is spent, but in the last fiscal year, it is unclear through which agencies it is spent,” said Baburam Gautam, assistant auditor general. “Rs 84 billion is a huge amount coming in the name of Nepali people, but neither the government not the donors are serious to make the use of such funds transparent.”

Gautam said government offices were ignoring OAG’s request for details of TA.

Finance Ministry officials say the government does not monitor the sanctioning and spending patterns of TA projects and it doesn’t have a holistic picture of the progress made in such projects.

Madhu Marasini, chief of foreign aid division at the ministry, said as donors themselves operate TA, it is natural the OAG could not audit such assistance. “That’s why the government does not know about how such assistance is being spent although it knows how much it is coming.”

Marasini said TA is accepted only after being sure government agencies do not have capacity to conduct feasibility studies of big projects and it also complicated to hire consultants through the current government mechanism and legislations. “As it is operated by the donors, we don’t accept TA in loans, but only in grants,” he said.

The OAG report also shows there are problems in donor assistance that comes under the government budgetary system. Of the 61 projects signed between the government and donors, audit reports of only 46 projects were submitted to the OAG. It says foreign assistance worth Rs 3.33 billion that eight ministries received have remained unaudited.