Nepal, Aug. 4 -- Nepal's seven provincial governments spent only an average of 61.33 percent of their capital budgets last fiscal year, continuing a long-running struggle to turn development allocations into actual projects.

Although provinces performed better than the federal government, which spent only 46.79 per cent of its capital budget during the same period, economists say the figures reflect a broader failure across all levels of government to translate public spending into economic activity.

Since the introduction of federalism, provincial governments have typically spent only around 55 to 60 percent of their allocated development budgets, according to various studies. Despite occasional improvements, implementation has remaine...