Punjab to bring White Paper on state’s finances

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Cabinet on Friday gave nod for tabling the White Paper on state's finances in the House during the current session of the legislative assembly.

A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said a decision to this effect was taken by the council of ministers during its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann here.

The White Paper on state's finances is an attempt to simplify the complex issues being faced by the state government and clearly apprising the common man of the present situation inherited by the incumbent AAP government.

The White Paper primarily contains four chapters that bring out historic patterns and present status of financial indicators, debt position and financial health of the state PSUs. It will also comment upon the possible way forward for the resurgence of fiscal health of the state.

The Cabinet also cleared the tabling of the budget estimates for 2022-23 in the ongoing budget session of the Vidhan Sabha.

The budget estimates have been prepared after due consultation with all stakeholders, including residents and others who gave their suggestions through emails, letters and direct communication.

The budget proposals have incorporated all relevant fiscal indicators such as revenue receipts, capital receipts, revenue expenditure, capital expenditure, revenue deficit, fiscal deficit and outstanding debt.

The Cabinet also accorded green signal for amending Section 4 in sub section 2 for clause (a) of the Punjab Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act of 2003.

This will help availing the benefit of normal net borrowing ceiling of 3.5 per cent of the projected Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), extra borrowing ceiling equivalent to contribution under National Pension Scheme (NPS), carrying forward its unutilized borrowing out of the borrowing ceiling allowed for the previous years and availing 50-year interest-free loan under scheme for special assistance to states for capital investment for 2022-23 in the current fiscal.