Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his team of officials have started giving final touches to budget 2010-11 with government expenses set to cross Rs 11 lakh crore for the year mirroring the need for high public spending to spur growth.
The gross budgetary support for the central budget is expected to go up by about Rs 50,000 crore from the current year’s Rs 325,000 crore with greater allocations likely for several of the government’s flagship social sector schemes including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
Officials, who did not wish to be identified, said the total expenditure is set to cross Rs 11 lakh crore with higher allocations expected for a raft of programmes spanning across rural development, infrastructure, health, education and other social sector schemes.
Government’s macroeconomic managers, however, face the onerous task of sustaining growth in the broader economy that is constrained by a high budget deficit that is projected to touch 6.8 per cent of GDP in the current year.
Economists said the government has to carefully walk the wedge to time the withdrawal of fiscal stimulus package that was announced through 2008 and 2009 to counter the economic downturn and keep expenses within manageable limits.
{{/usCountry}}Economists said the government has to carefully walk the wedge to time the withdrawal of fiscal stimulus package that was announced through 2008 and 2009 to counter the economic downturn and keep expenses within manageable limits.
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