KABUL - The Ministry of Finance says that, so far, over 89% of the development budget and over 93% of the ordinary budget has been spent by different state institutions.
According to the ministry, the overall budget increased to Afs411 billion ($5.2 billion) from Afs399 billion ($5 billion) after an addition to the mid-year budget.
From the total amount, Afs297 billion ($3.7 billion) has been allocated for ordinary budget and the remaining Afs115 billion ($1.4 billion) is for the development budget.
Figures by the ministry show that the national authority for disasters management has spent zero percent of its development budget while the Science
Academy, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and the Ministry of Counternarcotic have spent less than 50% of their development budget so far.
The figures show that eight out of a total of 54 departments have spent less than 50% of their development budget. 
“So far, the budget spending in all budgetary units has been 89.1% but we still have four days to the end of the fiscal year,” Finance Ministry’s spokesman Shamroz Khan Masjidi said.
“We will achieve our goal in budget spending,” said Akbar Rustami, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture. “Last year, the Agriculture Ministry spent 95% of its development budget.”
Critics say efforts should be made to make effective use of the government’s budget in order to bring change to people’s life.
“The development budget has been spent over the past few years, but its effectiveness has been less,” economic affairs analyst Abdul Rasheed Janbaz said. (TOLO NEWS)