Bhubaneswar: The state government’s annual budget for the financial year 2019-20 is likely to exceed Rs 1,38,000 crore as the government intends to ensure sufficient funds for schemes like Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) and restoration work post Fani.
The Council of Ministers headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday approved the annual budget, which will be presented by Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari, June 28. The annual budget of 2018-19 was Rs 1,20,028 crore.
According to sources, the government is likely to make a provision of Rs 57,300 crore under administrative expenditure, Rs 70,000 crore for programme expenditure, Rs 4,600 crore for disaster response fund and Rs 6500 crore for transfers from the state.
The government may also make provision for additional borrowing to meet expenditure for carrying out restoration work in the aftermath of Fani and to execute the government’s popular schemes like KALIA, State Food Security Scheme, universal health scheme Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, women-related initiatives like Mamata and Mission Shakti.
The debt burden which was Rs 87,000 crore by the end of 2018-19 fiscal, is estimated to go up to over Rs 1 lakh crore by March 2020. The government may not announce any major schemes in this budget, the source revealed.
Prior to elections, the state government had presented vote-on-account of Rs 1,32,660 crore for 2019-20 in the Assembly, projecting an economic growth in the range of 8 per cent to 8.5 per cent.
The Budget session of Assembly will have 30 working days in two phases — first phase from June 25 to July 2 and the second phase from July 12 to August 8.