Better financial discipline: Fiscal deficit of Centre pegged at 5.9%, state Budget estimates it at 3.83%, says Amit Mitra

Amit Mitra, Special Advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Finance, said on Wednesday that the state Budget 2023-24 has much better fiscal discipline in comparison to the Centre’s Budget in three major parameters- fiscal deficit, revenue deficit and debt GDP ratio.

Mitra also came down heavily upon the Centre for cutting down on the revenue deficit grant resulting in the state incurring a loss of Rs 5234 crore. “The fiscal deficit of the Centre is 5.9 per cent while the state Budget shows that it is 3.83 per cent for Bengal, the revenue deficit for the Centre is also higher at 2.9 per cent while that of the state is 1.8 per cent, the debt GDP ratio in the state is much better at 37.67 per cent while that of the Centre is a whopping 56.19 per cent . The revenue deficit grant that was Rs 13587 crore has been slashed down to Rs 8353 crore contributing to Rs 5234 crore loss for the state,”Mitra said.

He accused the Centre of undermining federalistic politics through its act of increasing cess and surcharge.

“In case, the Centre collects tax from the state, they have to pay back 41 per cent to the state. However, in case of cess and surcharge, the Centre does not need to pay a penny back to the state. So they are increasing cess and surcharge. In petrol, the cess and surcharge is 92.96 per cent while in case of diesel, it is 88.61 per cent.

Mitra reiterated that the state’s thrust on social schemes has been reflected with social development expenditure being projected at 60.44 percent, agriculture expenditure allocation at 24.85 per cent, physical expenditure allocation at 8.17 per cent of the total development expenditure in the state.

“In the revised estimate (RE) for agriculture and allied activities the allocation was Rs 8000 crore, but in the Budget Estimate (BE) it has been enhanced to Rs 15424 crore. In education, the RE was Rs 10384 crore but in BE it has jumped to Rs 13252 crore. This assumes significance in the context of Centre not increasing the education Budget,” Mitra added.

He said that BE has also witnessed a jump in rural development, health and family welfare, industry and minerals clearly indicating that the Budget is for the common people. Chandrima Bhattacharjee, Minister of State Finance (Independent Charge) pointed out that the thrust has been on boosting the social sector in the context of 65 per cent of the total population in the country hailing from villages. She accused the Centre of depriving the state of its dues.