IT News
Imphal, July 15: Chief Minister O. Ibobi who is also in charge of Finance today introduced the Demands for Grants during the 3rd day of the ongoing tenth Manipur State Assembly today. Presenting the full Budget of the state Government for the fiscal year 2014-15, the Chief Minister informed the members that the state’s plan outlay for the year 2014-15 is yet to be finalized, but have worked out a tentative Plan outlay of ‘ Rs. 4045.16 crore to avoid further delays in implementation of Plan schemes and also shared his belief that the final plan will be ready in consultation with the Government of India after the Budget session of the Parliament, adding that during the current year, the effort of the Government will be to give a major push to some of the key sectors like Power, Roads, Health and strengthening of administrative infrastructures, among others and that development of infrastructure both in the hills and the valley will continue to be a priority. Presenting a positive situation, the Chief Minister disclosed that despite the challenges posed by resource constraints, the Government have been able to sustain the growth momentum and that the economy grew at 9.83 percent while growth during 2013-14 and 2014-15 is estimated at 11 percent and 12.84 percent respectively with manufacturing, banking and public administration sectors emerging as key growth drivers. He also emphasized the improvement in the economy citing the decrease in the fiscal deficit down from 10.06 percent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2011-12 to 0.01 percent of GSDP in 2012-13 and also states that during 2013-14, it is expected to be much below the revised Estimates of 2.84 percent of GSDP which will be well within the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) target of 3 percent, while highlighting the fact that the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) which is the only major source of revenue for the state accounting for more than 80 percent of the state’s own revenue has been increased to Rs. 395.73 as against the target of ‘ 385.88 according to the provisional figures for 2014-14.