Legislature-Parliament on Monday endorsed the Appropriation Bill for fiscal year 2015-16 that was under discussion for the last two weeks.

The Bill that was tabled for approval, after all the ministers answered to queries, was endorsed by a majority of the lawmakers. Lawmakers from Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML, Nepal Prajatantra Party among other collation parties voted for the Bill while those from UPCN (Maoist), Nepal Prajatantra Party-Nepal and Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party, among others, stood against it. The decision was taken through voice vote.

Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat on July 14 had presented the budget of Rs 819.47 billion for the current fiscal year prioritising reconstruction.  The budget has allocated Rs 91 billion for reconstruction of structures damaged by the April 25 earthquake.

The endorsement of the budget has opened the door for the government to spend the budget in a full fledged way.

The Parliament on July 17 had approved the advance budget allowing the government to use a third of the total budget.

This is the first time after 2006 that the budget was endorsed in the month of August.

Earlier, the budget traditionally used to get endorsed three months after it’s presentation.

The early endorsement is likely to give more time to spend the budget.