Chennai: ‘The government has used the pandemic crisis as an opportunity to usher in many important structural changes in the economy,’ said V Anantha Nageswaran, who recently took over as the Chief Economic Advisor to the government of India.
‘The budget has continued with the practice started two years ago of bringing all below-the-line items above the line. Extra-budgetary resources in which the borrowing is guaranteed and serviced by the Union government is restricted to a single transitional item of Rupees 750 crores in the current year’s revised estimates (RE). Transparency and cleaner accounting continue to be accorded the highest priority in budget-making as was the case with the previous two budgets,’ he said in an article.
In the last two years, marked by the global pandemic, the government has provided resources for the vulnerable sections of the society through Emergency Credit Line Schemes, through Emergency Food support (PM Gharib Kalyan Yojana) involving allocation of additional foodgrain over and above eligibility under Public Distribution extended multiple times, enhanced allocations to rural employment guarantee programme and PM-Kisan, said Anantha Nagewaran.
‘The assumption of 11.2 per cent as the growth rate of GDP at current prices might strike many as being too conservative especially given that the Economic Survey for 2021-22 projects a figure of between 8 and 8.5% as the growth rate for GDP at constant prices. If anything, the chances of this projection being exceeded are higher than the chances of undershooting it, given that real GDP contracted q/q in 1Q2021-22.’