Guwahati: The Assam Government is developing an ambitious reform agenda to unlock the state’s growth potential over the medium term, focusing on policy and institutional reforms dovetailed with downstream investments in related sectors, state finance minister Ajanta Neog said while presenting the 2022-23 budget on Wednesday.
“Fund management and allocation towards supporting the weakest strata of the society remains the prime focus of the government followed by investments to boost growth in the region,” she said. Several announcements have been made in various sectors providing them with the fillip.
Neog said the reform agenda focuses on three broad areas. The first area focuses on boosting trade, increasing investments, and generating jobs. The second area will increase resilience to increasingly frequent and severe climate-related shocks, consolidate funds earmarked for green initiatives and catalyze – both public and private – green investment. The third area will focus on developing the agriculture and tourism sectors to increase their potential.
“In this context, the Government is engaging with external aid agencies/development partners to support its reform agenda. It is expected that the reforms identified will pave the way for development projects in the related sectors,” she said.
She said Assam’s economy is also recovering well from the pandemic and is in a much better position to tackle any other Covid-19 related contingencies in future with a much better health infrastructure.
In 2019-20 and 2020-21, amid the COVID crisis, Assam was the only state showing a positive growth rate while many states showed negative growth, said Neog.
The GSDP of Assam at variable prices is expected to be Rs. 4,33,925 Cr in 2021-22. This is 13.89 % higher than the GSDP in 2020-21. In 2020-21 and 2021-22, Assam is one of the few states showing tremendous growth despite the Covid pandemic.
“There is a great likelihood of Assam being sanctioned Development policy financing with the assistance of World Bank,” she revealed.
The budget talks of the need for preserving the heritage of the state and has sanctioned huge funds on new projects. The government clarified that the process has already begun to provide 1 lakh jobs to the state’s youths.
On forest and environment, the government is launching ‘Assam Green Mission’ to improve the green cover of the State from 36% to 38% over five years by adopting the Miyawaki model. To promote investment and accelerate industrial development, the government is bringing out the new Industrial and Investment Policy, 2022.
The policy will cover all verticals for industrial growth in Assam.