Bhubaneswar, July 2 : Odisha Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari on Saturday presented a development and investment-oriented annual Budget for 2022-23 in the state Assembly with an outlay of Rs 2,00,000 crore.
Presenting the budget, the Finance Minister said over the last 22 years there has been a 17-fold increase in the budget size and this year it has touched Rs 2,00, 000 crore.
The budget is about 17.6 percent more than the annual budget for 2021-22.
Pujari said the programme expenditure has shown a 28-fold increase and capital spending has gone up about 50 times during the same period.
Like the previous year this year too the budget was presented in two parts — the agriculture budget and the general budget .
The total programme expenditure outlay for 2022-23 will be Rs 1,00,000 crore which constitutes 50 percent of the budget size. In addition, Rs 10,000 crore will be spent through off-budget sources and by Public Sector undertakings
A sum of Rs 89,590 crore has been allocated for administrative expenditure. The outlay for the disaster risk management fund will be Rs 3210 crore. Transfer from the state will have an outlay of Rs 7200 crore.
Pujari said Rs,32,596 crore has been allocated for the development of SC/STS for identified schemes in the programme budget, Rs 27,324 crore for the education and skills sector, rs 21,166 crore for griculture and allied sectors.
The Finance Minister said the state’s dependence on central transfers has reduced with the state’s own revenue contributing about 57 percent to the total revenue pool.
He said revenue surplus is projected at 2.5 percent of GSDP and the fiscal deficit is kept within the prescribed limit of three percent of GSDP.
The capital outlay in 2022-23 is Rs 38,732 crore which is about 5.4 percent of the GSDP and a 56 percent increase over the previous year.
The outlay is proposed to be financed mainly through revenue receipts of Rs 1,63,967 crore and borrowing and other receipts of Rs 36,033 crore.
The total revenue receipts for 2022-23. Included state’s share in central taxes for Rs 36,978 crore, state’s own tax revenue for Rs 46,000 crore, own non-tax revenue for rs 48,200 crore and grants from the centre of Rs 32,789 crore.
The state, the Finance Minister said, has taken up initiatives for transformation in health care, education and agriculture on a mission mode. The budget focuses on achieving inclusive prosperity through human development, creation of physical and social infrastructure, provision for social safety nets for the disadvantaged and vulnerable and empowerment of youth women, sc/ st, OBC, Backward classes, minorities, differently-abled and senior citizens.
The Finance Minister said at the national level the GDP forecast for the current year has been revised downwards mainly due to the effects of higher inflation. Despite the downside pressure , the state’s economy is expected to grow between 8 to 8.5 percent during the current fiscal due to higher government spending and the revival of the economy post-pandemic. This will be well above the national growth estimate, he said.
Pujari said the state had a higher collection of mining revenue during the previous two years Which had been instrumental in meeting the need of higher public expenditure,in revamping health service delivery and creating livelihood opportunities during the pandemic period.
Since the international commodity prices are highly volatile, the mining revenue may turn negative, affecting the state budget and public expenditure.
The state government, he said is going to set up a budget stabilisation Fund, the first of its kind in the country, as a mitigation measure to neutralise the risk of price shock of metals on the state budget. This would help the state to set aside certain surplus revenue for times of unexpected revenue shortfall or budget deficit.
