After reporting revenue surplus in the consecutive last three budgets, the Orissa government has projected a revenue deficit of Rs 2284.06 crore in the budget for 2009-10.
Presenting the vote-on-account for the first four months of the next fiscal in the state assembly today, the state finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai said, the projection for the year as a whole shows that the total revenue receipt for 2009-10 will be Rs 28,297.04 crore with the revenue expenditure pegged at Rs 30,581.1 crore.
While the revenue receipts is projected to decline due to the impact of recession, the expenditure of the government is projected to increase due to the implementation of the revised scales of pay for the state government employees.
As a result, the state will have a revenue deficit of Rs 2284.06 crore. Importantly, the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act mandates the state to have zero revenue deficit by end of 2008-09.Though the state government achieved the FRBM parameters long before the scheduled time, now there is going to be fiscal slippage in the next fiscal.
Later, the state finance secretary, R N Senapati said, the economic recession was not foreseen when the FRBM targets were fixed. Since the government wants to continue with the expenditure in the critical sectors of the state’s economy to fight the impact of economic slowdown, it has gone for deficit in the revenue account in the next fiscal.
The vote on account was for an amount of Rs 15054.02 crore which will mostly go to meet the obligation of various government spending during first four months of the coming fiscal. The government presented this vote on account as the state is going for the assembly polls soon.
Ghadai said, with the elections round the corner and model code of conduct likely to come into force soon, the pace of development work in the state will be affected.
Besides, the Union government will also present a vote on account in the Parliament. So it will not be possible for the state government to get clear picture of the flow of the Central fund, he added. The vote on account lays emphasis on poverty alleviation, infrastructure development, agriculture, irrigation, education and rural development among others.
Seeking the approval of the house for his mini budget, the Ghadai said, the vote on account seeks to prioritise the expenditure keeping in view the available resources and to provide the required funds for completion of the on-going projects.
It provides for the payments of salary, pension, interest payments, repayment of principal, relief, old age pension, state’s share for the Centrally Sponsored Programmes (CSP) and other essential expenditures under the non-plan, state plan, Central plan and Centrally Sponsored Plan (CSP) schemes.
The vote on account proposes Rs 165 crore for Gopabandhu Grameen Yojana, Rs 120 crore for Biju KBK plan, Rs 72 crore for Madhubabu Pension Scheme, Rs 690 crore for implementation of the externally added projects, Rs 1133.52 crore for the state’s share in the CSPs. While Rs 324 crore has ben provided for the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF), Rs 847.85 crore has been provided for the Rs 2 per kg roce scheme.
Besides, Rs 125 crore has been provided as compensation to the urban local bodies (ULBs) for maintenace of road and infrastructure development under the second state finance award.
The state plan outlay for 2009-10 has been projected at Rs 9500 crore, up by Rs 2000 crore from 2008-09. About financing the state plan outlay, Senapati said, about Rs 22,446 crore is expected to come as revenue receipts in the form of shared tax, own tax revenue, non-tax revenue, non-plan grant in aid.While internal borrowing including the market borrowing, negotiated loans, NSSF, GPF is estimated to be Rs 4155 crore, the Central assistance is proejcted to be Rs 4712 crore.
The aggregate resources of the state government will be Rs 7473.44 crore and the resources of the public sector undertakings are estimated at Rs 2026.56 crore, taking the total state plan outlay to Rs 9500 crore in 2009-10.
