Govt Begins Work On Next Budget

The finance ministry has formally kicked off preparations for the Union budget 1999-2000. Finance minister Yashwant Sinha's pre-budget meetings are scheduled to begin from January 11.

Government officials said the finance minister would seek the opinion of experts, including economists, industrialists and agriculturists in the week-long pre-budget meetings. He is also expected to meet a delegation of small-scale industrialists.

The officials also revealed that the finance ministry was compiling revised estimates for 1998-99 and had started discussions with financial advisors of other ministries to determine the expenditure in the next fiscal.

Senior officials admitted that going by the present trends, a slippage in the fiscal deficit target of 5.6 per cent of gross domestic product was on the cards.

This is because of a continued slump in revenue accruals, with the shortfall projected at Rs 10-12,000 crore, economic growth of just 5.5 per cent compared with the initially anticipated 6.5 per cent and the inability to push through the divestment process.

Ballooning expenditure has added to the government's woes. The finance ministry is moving a supplementary in Parliament later this week to fund the expenditure overrun of Rs 1,000 crore.