CAG indicts West Bengal govt for lower capex in 2015-16

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report on state finances of West Bengal for the year 2015-16 said that the government made lower capital expenditure as well as expenditure under economic sector when compared with the budgetary estimates.
In both the cases, capital expenditure was as low as 9.40 per cent and actual expenditure made was lower than the budget estimates, the report said.
The CAG report was tabled in the West Bengal Assembly today.
It said it was indicative of failure on the part of the state in utilising high-cost borrowed funds to create capital assets for boosting development as most of the funds were utilised to meet the revenue deficit.

The report also stated that the government understated the fiscal deficit as a percentage of GSDP by 0.21 per cent, which was shown at 2.01 per cent against the medium term fiscal policy target of 2.68 per cent.
The CAG also said the state had failed to achieve the 14th Finance Commission target of zero revenue deficit during the period, which actually was 0.87 per cent of the GSDP.
Although the state had made substantial savings of Rs 36,512 crore as expenditure was lower than budgetary provisions of 2015-16, the government failed to utilise the saved money for developmental purposes, the report said.