The Odisha government Thursday presented the budget of Rs 1,32,660 crore for 2019-20 in the Assembly, projecting an economic growth in the range of 8 per cent to 8.5 per cent.
Finance Minister S B Behera presented the budget amidst a walkout by opposition BJP and Congress members.
"The budget of Rs 1,32,660 crore for 2019-20 is about 10.4 per cent more than the annual budget of 2018-19 (Rs 1,20,028 crore)," Behera said.
The minister also presented the Vote-on-Account amounting Rs 56,921 crore for the first quarters from April to July, 2019.
As tenure of the current assembly is coming to an end on June 11, the new government will seek appropriation for the full financial year 2019-20 after the general elections, he said.
Keeping in view the requirement of funds for expenditure on payment of salary, pension, interest, old age pension, scholarship for SC and ST students, a sum of Rs 56,921 crore has been proposed in the Vote-On-Account before the House to defray the expenses during the first four months of the financial year from April to July 2019, said Behera.
The Finance minister said Odisha's economy is expected to grow at the rate of 8.35 per cent in 2018-19 surpassing all India growth rate of 7.2 per cent.
"This comes on top of a robust average growth of more than 8 per cent in the last six years compared to the national average of about 7.1 per cent," he said.
Behera said: "Going by the trend in the external and domestic economic evnironment, the state economy can be expected to grow in the range of 8 per cent to 8.5 per cent during 2019-20."
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