Kohima: During the first budget of the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio presented a budget deficit of Rs 1374.17 crore for the financial year (FY) 2023-24, with a total budget outlay of Rs 23,085.66 crore.
The current financial year, which was estimated to close with an amount of Rs 2,212.72 crore, was reduced to Rs 1334.17 crore in the revised estimates.
Owing to the increased receipts in share of Central Taxes and Duties and own revenues, as well as the forced release of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) backlog of Rs 728 crore, the closing deficit for 2022-23 was reduced by Rs 878 crore, the highest reduction in the deficit in the history of the State.
However, with a negative balance of Rs 40 crore, the next FY is estimated to close with an accumulated deficit of Rs 1374.17 crore.
The budget estimate for 2023-24 projected gross receipts at Rs 23,145.66 crore and gross expenditure at Rs 23,085.66 crore with the State’s own tax and non-tax revenue estimated at Rs 1950.56 crore.
The State’s share in central taxes grew marginally from Rs 4646.80 crore in the current financial year to Rs 5812.05 crore for the fiscal year 2023-24. Central assistance (in grants and loans) is estimated at Rs 8050.63 crore, while internal debt, including Ways and Means Advances (WMA) from the Reserve Bank of India, is at Rs 7330.91 crore, and recovery of loans and advances by the State government at Rs 1.51 crore.
On expenditures, non-development expenditure (excluding debt servicing) was estimated at Rs 11491.76 crore, while servicing of debt (including repayment of WMA) at Rs 7325.27 crore, and development expenditure (including centrally sponsored schemes) at Rs 4268.63 crore.
In terms of percentage, State expenditure has increased by 7.10% over last year’s budget. This reflects improvement in the quality of the State’s budget, Rio said.
The total budget outlay has marked a reduction of Rs 1,153.84 crore as compared to FY 2022-23, out of which a reduction of Rs 500 crore was made on account of a reduction in Ways and Means Advances (WMA), a temporary credit facility from Reserve bank of India (RBI).
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Rio also said that the State will be adversely impacted by the yearly reduction in Revenue Deficit Grant by the 15th Finance Commission with a reduction of Rs 910 crore over the 5-year period of the award from 2020-21 up to 2025-26.
He informed that the Commission had taken this step to pressurise the State to cut down its revenue expenditure, especially on salaries which were critically viewed by the FC.
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