Finance Minister K. M. Mani will present the State Budget for the coming financial year in the Assembly at 9 a.m. on Monday.
This would be the tenth budget by Mr. Mani, who already holds the record as the Finance Minister who presented the most budgets. Mr. Mani’s first Budget was in 1976, soon after he was made Finance Minister in December 1975.
The 2012-13 budget presents significant challenges to the Finance Minister as the finances of the State are strained, with increasing revenue deficit and a high level of borrowings. Mr. Mani will have to achieve higher revenue mobilisation to sustain expenditure on welfare and subsidies.
The government is already spending heavily on schemes such as Rice at Re. 1 for the poor and hand-outs to various sections of the society. The year ahead would require higher investments in the infrastructure sector and increased support for the agriculture sector.
It will be hard for the Finance Minister to increase direct levies considering the burden already imposed on the people by the Railway and Union Budgets. The government also has to remain popular with another by-election round the corner (from Neyyattinkara constituency).
