Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday tabled a Rs 1,592 crore deficit budget for the 2023-24 fiscal, proposing no new tax, and asserted that efforts will be made to make the state a ‘billion-dollar’ economy.
The chief minister said the estimated GSDP for the FY 2023-2024 is pegged at Rs 46,600 crore with an expected growth rate of 11.5 per cent.
The fiscal deficit is 3.42 per cent of the state’s GSDP – Rs 41,779 crore for the current financial year.
Presenting the Budget in the Assembly, Sangma said the estimated receipt is about Rs 21,781 crore of which revenue is likely to be Rs 19,414 crore excluding the borrowings of Rs 2,339 crore.
He said the total expenditure is expected to be Rs 22,022 crore, an increase of over Rs 3,140 crore excluding loan repayment of Rs 988 crore.
The estimated expenditure included Rs 1,169 crore in repayment of interests and Rs 1,794 crore in pension payments.
“I am therefore presenting a budget of 2023-24 with a fiscal deficit of Rs 1,592 crore, which is around 3.42 per cent of the GSDP,” Sangma said.
Stating that the government’s expenditure has more than doubled from Rs 9,528 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 20,729 in 2022-23, the chief minister said the cumulative funding from externally aided projects increased from Rs 2,300 crore in 2018 to over Rs 10,600 crore in 2023.
Sangma asserted that his government will bring in policies and programs to double the GSDP to Rs 80,000 crore in the next five years and efforts will be made Meghalaya a ‘billion-dollar’ economy.
He also informed the House that the government strives to double the income of approximately six lakh farmers by focusing on horticulture, livestock, fisheries and sericulture.
The chief minister also informed the House that the Union Finance Ministry has enhanced the size of the scheme for special assistance to states for capital investment to spur investment in infrastructure.
We have already drawn our share of Rs 742 crore and invested in critical capital projects… with an extra allocation of Rs 307 crore the total allocation this FY is Rs 1,049 crore,” he said, adding that for the upcoming FY the state is expected to receive Rs 1,003 crore.
The chief minister also said that the state’s own tax has also increased during the current FY to Rs 2,636 crore and for the upcoming FY, the estimated own tax is about Rs 3,205 crore of which Rs 1,785 crore is GST and Rs 792 crore as tax on sales and trades and Rs 413 as excise.
