Increased expenditure, low tax collection worry Assam

Guwahati: The growing burden of committed expenditure on salary and pension including the pension liabilities of Assam State Electricity Board besides expenditure on expanding size of the government like for setting up of new colleges and medical institutions are emerging as the major area of concern in managing the expenditure of the state.

Presenting the ‘expenditure and receipt (provisional) statement’ of the finance department for the 2018-19 financial year, Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Overall, the continuous increase in establishment expenditure, coupled with the expansion in capital expenditure against limited growth in own tax buoyancy and slow increase in the government of India transfers, are emerging as concerns in the expenditure management for the state.” The minister feared that expanding growth momentum in the expenditure pattern, coupled with strain in own source of revenue collection, may force the state to borrow more to meet the expenditure commitments.

The expenditure utilisation stood at Rs 70,658 crore as against the budget amount of Rs 108,490 crore in 2018-19.