Fiscal council likely to be set up

FRBM panel had recommended a fiscal council after studying 40 advanced and emerging economies

The Centre might accept a recommendation of the fiscal responsibility and budget management (FRBM) panel for the formation of a fiscal council.

The FRBM panel has suggested the fiscal council be a semi-independent body monitoring the government’s fiscal announcements, providing its own forecasts and analysis and advising the Centre on deviating from the fiscal path under certain circumstances.

The FRBM panel had also made several other recommendations, some of them, contentious, decisions on which are yet to be taken.

The FRBM panel had said: “We foresee the council will serve both an ex-ante role —providing independent forecasts on key macro variables like real