Kathmandu, July 24 -- As the new fiscal year has begun for a week, eight local governments across the country remain unable to collect taxes and spend public money after failing to present their annual budgets within the constitutional deadline, exposing deep governance problems driven by political infighting and administrative vacancies.

According to the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration, budget-related problems have surfaced in 13 of the country's 753 local governments. Of them, eight have not tabled their annual budgets at all, while five others presented budget proposals but failed to endorse or complete the required administrative entry into the federal system. The ministry has pla...