Kathmandu, Oct. 22 -- Government spending, particularly capital expenditure, has remained consistently poor for the past several years, and spending of foreign aid has been even poorer, government data show.

Every year, the government seeks to get a significant chunk of foreign aid either in the form of grants or loans to bridge its resources gap. But when it comes to utilising the aid money, the government has not been effective.

In the fiscal year 2017-18, for instance, the government spent only 54 percent of the total grant amount that it had planned on spending. Expenditure from foreign loans that fiscal year was a mere 42 percent of the funds received.

The government's capital expenditure in the last five years has remained in the...