FRBM panel moots fiscal council; budget planners cold to idea

FRBM committee report sets a roadmap to achieve fiscal deficit of 2.5% of GDP by 2023

The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) committee has suggested setting up a fiscal council to oversee and verify the credibility of the government’s budget numbers and fiscal targets for any given year. 

While the political leadership at the Centre is said to be comfortable with the idea, the bureaucracy is reportedly against it.

The FRBM committee, headed by former Member of Parliament and former Revenue and Expenditure Secretary N K Singh, had submitted its report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on January 23. 

The report, which lays out a road map to achieve a fiscal deficit