Meghalaya fiscal position improved significantly: CAG

The fiscal position of Meghalaya indicated significant improvement in the financial health of the state during 2012-13 in comparison to previous four years, a report of the CAG has said.
"The fiscal position of the state viewed in terms of key fiscal parameters - revenue surplus, fiscal deficit, primary deficit - indicated significant improvement in the financial health of the state during 2012-13 relative to previous four years of 2008-12," a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report for the fiscal ending March 31, 2013 said.
During 2012-13, the state returned to the status of revenue surplus as revenue deficit which was Rs 180.34 crore during 2011-12 turned to a surplus of Rs 536.81 crore, it said.

This achievement was mainly due to increase of central transfer in the form of share of Union Taxes and Duties and grants-in-aid to the tune of Rs 614.98 crore (17.14 per cent) during 2012-13 against Rs 201.19 crore (5.94 per cent) during the previous fiscal.
The fiscal deficit as well as primary deficit of the state also significantly decreased during 2012-13 compared to the previous year when revenue receipts increased by Rs 2,725.71 crore from Rs 2,810.64 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 5,536.35 crore in 2012-13, the report stated.
It also said revenue expenditure of the state increased by 86.36 per cent from Rs 2,682.78 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 4,999.54 crore in 2012-13.

The CAG said Non-Plan Revenue Expenditure at Rs 3,280.13 crore in 2012-13 constituted 65.61 per cent and remained significantly higher (12.17 per cent) than the normatively assessed level of Rs 2,924.21 crore by the thirteenth finance commission for the year.
Though the capital outlay during 2012-13 (Rs 928.34 crore) increased by Rs 73.10 crore over the previous year, it fell short by 33.63 per cent (Rs 470.36 crore) of the projection (Rs 1,398.70 crore) made by the state government in its budget for the year, the report said.
The fiscal liabilities during 2012-13 (Rs 4,964.58 crore) marginally decreased by 2.47 per cent (Rs 125.70 crore) and stood at 26.74 per cent of the GSDP during the current year against 30.97 per cent during 2011-12, the CAG report said.