Government spending needs regular monitoring: Pranab Mukherjee

The success of fiscal policy is closely linked to optimal utilisation of public resources and there is significant scope to reform the expenditure policy of the government for rationalisation of public spending, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said today.

He, however, said that there are numerous factors that make expenditure reforms an extremely challenging and uphill task.

The finance minister was addressing the second meeting of the consultative committee attached to his ministry during inter-session period of Parliament.

Mukherjee said the government's efforts to get the economy on a path of fiscal prudence are on track with the fiscal deficit for 2010-11 estimated at 4.7 per cent of GDP as against 5.1 per cent projected in the revised estimates at the time of the presentation of the union budget, earlier this year.

Similarly, he said, the revenue deficit is now estimated at 3.1 per cent as against 3.4 per cent in the revised estimates. This, he said, has been possible due to higher tax collections, higher receipts from non-tax sources and non-debt capital sources and savings under Plan expenditure. The government, he added, is committed to achieve the fiscal targets.

He said for 2011-12, the government has started providing the details of actual expenditure incurred on each scheme along with the budget and revised estimate of current year and budget estimates of the ensuing year. This would enable a better analysis of the budgetary provisions and the trend in expenditure, he said.