Odisha to work with IMF on multi-year budgeting system

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha is moving towards a more credible and predictable budget exercise with technical assistance from the International Monetary Fund. Under the move respective state departments will be given an indicative finance ceiling under which they themselves can prioritise their deliverables.
A team of the IMF met with senior officials of Naveen Patnaik’s government recently to review the state’s Public Finance Management system. Under a tripartite agreement with the Departmnet of Economic affairs, the IMF's South Asia Training and Technical Assistance Center ( SATTAC) is helping state to move towards a multi—year budgeting system based on more real and forward looking fiscal projections.

According to the state’s Principal Secretary, Finance A K Meena, “This would mean an early start of budgeting exercise, with realistic revenue projections. The budget will take into account committed liabilities and provide greater control over actual financial commitments through a commitment control system being put in place.” The state is currently working on a one year plan and expects to begin work on a three –year plan from next year, said Meena.

In an official statement, the government claimed that officials of the IMF who had attended the meeting, including Anne Marie Gulde, Deputy Director Asia-Pacific Department, IMF, lauded Odisha for its improved fiscal reforms and for being “on the right path with sensible approaches.” Odisha government’s implementation of fiscal planning, budget making, the Odisha Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, its management of common treasury and commitment management and control ( CMC) system was also reviewed during the meeting.

The state government reiterated its commitment to continue working with the South-Asia Training and Technical Assistance Center, established in 2016 in New Delhi by the IMF in collaboration with member countries of the region to provide assistance to governments in the region.