Data on government revenue, expenditure, and debt across Nepal’s federal, provincial, and local levels can now be easily accessed in one place. The “Nepal Fiscal Dashboard,” developed by the World Bank Nepal, was officially released last month.
In this context, the World Bank Nepal held a presentation and interaction session on Friday with members of the Nepal Economic Journalists Association.
Through this dashboard, users can view, analyze, and download data related to budgets, revenue, expenditures, debt, and financial indicators of federal, provincial, and local governments in one place. Nepal has a three-tier government system, with each level maintaining its own budget, revenue sources, and spending. Previously, such data was scattered across various sources, but the World Bank has consolidated it into a single platform for visualization and analysis.
The bank stated that the dashboard is an integrated, interactive, and user-friendly system. Users can select specific years and types of data, and apply various filters to modify charts. The data can also be viewed as a share of GDP, a proportion of the total budget, or on a per capita basis.
The dashboard includes historical data from 2018 to 2022 and will be updated as new data becomes available. Sources include budget speeches, consolidated financial statements published by the Office of the Comptroller General, and data from public institutions such as the Nepal Rastra Bank. All of these datasets are publicly available and have been compiled by the World Bank into a single platform.
It has been stated that no login is required to use the dashboard, and anyone can access it freely. No permission is needed, though users are encouraged to cite the original government sources when using the data.
At the event, Menuka Karki, President of NAFIJ, described the dashboard as highly useful. Sharing feedback from participants, she said, “If charts included labels, we could use them directly. Currently, we need to download the data and recreate the charts. This is extremely helpful for economic journalism, as having all the data in one place makes analysis much easier.”
Participants also suggested making the dashboard available in the Nepali language, adding features for comparison with other South Asian countries, and ensuring regular updates. The World Bank noted that the dashboard was initially developed for internal use but was later made public to enhance transparency and accessibility. It also stated that feedback from the interaction program would be incorporated as needed.
