The finance minister, Mr K.M. Mani, has said the 2012-13 budget that he presents on March 9 would be a development-friendly one which would target two-digit economic growth.
“Our target is a GSDP growth rate of 9.5 per cent but if we could step things up even further, we could touch a two-digit growth,” the finance minister said after holding pre-budget discussions with various groups on Tuesday.
A three-pronged approach would be adopted to achieve this target. The emphasis would be on restructuring agriculture on commercial lines, scaling up capital investment and reducing wasteful expenditure.
The minister, however, said that the target was daunting as the GDP at the national level was showing a declining trend and central transfers too were getting thinner.
Mani will present the state budget a week before Pranab Mukherjee presents the Union Budget. The finance minister said the revenue deficit, presently pegged at 1.81 percent of the GSDP, would be brought down to 0.9 per cent.
This reduction was mandated by the guidelines set by the 13th Finance Commission. The fiscal deficit, which now stood at 3.43 percent, will be retained at the same level.
Such a drastic reduction in revenue deficit, he said, could be achieved only if the primary sector was given a big boost.
“The agriculture sector is in shambles with just 0.64 per cent growth rate,” the minister said. “We will have to introduce modern scientific techniques to improve production, and agriculture will have to be restructured on commercial lines,” Mr Mani said.
Increasing employment opportunities would also get priority. “We have 43 lakh unemployed youth in the state.
We need more schemes like the entrepreneurship scheme that was unveiled in my last budget to increase employment,” he said. Institutionalised skill development programmes would also facilitate employment generation, he said.