Guwahati: Chief minister of Meghalaya Conrad K. Sangma presented a deficit budget for 2023–2024 of Rs. 1,592 crore on March 23 and referred to it as the “people’s budget.”
According to Sangma’s budget address, total revenues are anticipated to be Rs 21,781 crore with income receipts at Rs 19,414 crore and capital receipts at Rs 2,366 crore.
He added that the overall expenditure is expected to be Rs 22,022 crore of which revenue expenditure would be Rs 17,186 crore and capital expenditure will be Rs 4,836 crore, leaving out borrowings of Rs 2,339 crore.
Chief minister who oversees the Finance Ministry claims that the total anticipated cost excluding loan repayments of Rs 988 crore is Rs 21,034 crore.
He stated that the projected interest payments for 2023–2024 are Rs1,169 billion and the projected pension payments are Rs1,794 crore.
“I am, therefore, presenting the budget for 2023-24 with a fiscal deficit of Rs 1,592 crore, which is around 3.42 per cent of the GSDP,” Sangma said.
Dedicating the budget to the people of the state, the chief minister said, “I would like to term this budget the ‘People’s Budget’.”