Bhubaneswar: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised Odisha, which has taken slew of fiscal reforms in the State.
Recently in a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, the IMF team led by Anne Marie Gulde, Dy Director Asia-Pacific Department, said that “Fiscal reforms in Odisha is at cutting edge and on the right path with sensible approaches”.
Looking into the progress already made in this direction Ms Gulde said, “Odisha has shown great interest and progress in improving Public Finance Management. It is one of the most active States in India. We are impressed by the level of political will, technical preparedness, administrative commitment and the degree of progress that have already been made. We will continue our joint effort with Odisha in coming two years for full achievement of the targets”.
The fiscal reform issues relating to implementation of strategic fiscal planning, strategic budget making, preparation of fiscal strategy paper, Odisha Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, fiscal risk management, cash management, commitment management and control ( CMC) system, common treasury management and e-procurement etc were deliberated in the meeting.
Sukhwinder Singh, Director South-Asia Training and Technical Assistance Center said, “Odisha is first Indian State to have introduced strategic budget making and commitment control system”. He added the success of Odisha could be showcased as a model for emulation by other Indian States.
Principal Secretary Finance Ashok Meena appraised that State Budget size increased from Rs. 18,516.52 crore in 2001-02 to Rs. 1.39,000 crore in 2019-20 thereby recording a growth of more than 18 times.
Odisha is now a revenue surplus State. Overcoming the revenue deficit situation of 5.48% of GSDP in 2001-02, the State has reached revenue surplus of 2.17% in 2018-19. The debt stock has decreased from 46.48% of GSDP in 2001-02 to 19.7% of GSDP in 2019-20. The fiscal deficit has been reduced from 7.68% to 3.49% during the period. The capital outlay for infrastructural sector has increased from 1.72% of GSDP in the year 2001-02 to 4.53% in the year 2019-20.
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