বাংলায় পড়ুন
On 20th September, the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Board of Directors approved a loan of $300 million to continue a comprehensive series of fiscal reforms in West Bengal to bring about more accessible, affordable and high quality public services.
“We entered into a successful partnership through a first program in 2012 with the West Bengal government to bring about fiscal reforms that could put the state’s finances on a balanced and sustainable path,” said Navendu Karan, an ADB Senior Public Management Economist. “But we recognized then that the full effect of reforms would take at least 5 years to materialize and a follow-on program would be needed to carry these forward.” He added.
The first ADB policy-based loan of $400 million in 2012 for the first West Bengal Development Finance Program aimed to create the fiscal space necessary to sustain higher public investment in the state. It laid the foundations for improved targeting of scarce public resources to improve overall efficiency in spending. Public investment as a percentage of gross state domestic product reached almost 1.3% in FY2016 from 0.5% in FY2012, while the fiscal deficit reduced to 2.2% from 3.4% in the same period.
The government under Chief Minsiter Smt. Mamata Banerjee achieved full compliance on all policy actions under the first program. Its commitment to fiscal consolidation has been recognized, with the state government receiving several awards for e-governance in tax administration.
