Bhubaneswar: A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Monday met Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy and lauded the fiscal reforms of the state especially in the sector of Public Finance Management (PFM). Other senior bureaucrats from the state also participated in the brainstorming session.
“Looking into the progress already made in this direction, Odisha has shown great interest and progress in improving PFM. It is one of the most active states in India. We are impressed by the level of political will, technical preparedness, administrative commitment and the degree of progress that have already been made. We will continue our joint effort with Odisha in coming two years for full achievement of the targets,” Anne Marie Gulde, Deputy Director Asia-Pacific Department, IMF said.
During the high level meeting it has also been decided that Odisha would continue to work with IMF’s South Asia Training and Technical Assistance Center (SATTAC), New Delhi in the areas of further improving fiscal management and resource augmentation in the State. SATTAC provides world class capacity development facility to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Apart from capacity enhancement, the center provides technical assistance support to few states including Odisha.
During the meeting, the fiscal reform issues were discussed in details. Some of the issues relating to the reforms which were discussed include implementation of strategic fiscal planning, strategic budget making, preparation of fiscal strategy paper, Odisha Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act and others.
Sukhwinder Singh, Director, SATTAC said, “Odisha is one of the pioneering states to have introduced strategic budget making and commitment control system. The success of Odisha could be showcased as a model for emulation by other Indian states.”
Principal Secretary of Finance Ashok Meena said that under this new system the finance department would communicate the advance tentative ceiling and the departments would prepare the detailed budget as per their priority keeping in view need of the people and commitment of the State.
In the meeting the Chief Secretary directed the different departments of the state government to reap full potential of the new system and maximise outcomes of the budget utilisation. The fiscal indicators of Odisha were also reviewed in the meeting. Meena also appraised that State Budget size increased from Rs 18,516.52 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 1,39,000 crore in 2019-20 thereby recording a growth of more than 18 times. Odisha is now a revenue surplus state.