Nepal, June 24 -- The federal budget is more than an annual statement of revenues and expenditures; in a federal system, it reflects how power, resources and responsibilities are distributed among different levels of government. Whether a budget strengthens or weakens federalism, therefore, depends not only on the size of public expenditure, but also on who receives the resources, who exercises spending authority and whether the constitutional division of powers is respected.

Under the Constitution, the federal government is required to present its annual budget on May 29 (Jestha 15). The Intergovernmental Fiscal Arrangement Act, 2017, requires provincial governments to present their budgets on June 15 (Asar 1) and local governments on J...