Govt to set deficit target

NEW DELHI: The government is set to specify a target for a reduction in the fiscal deficit in the rules to be framed on the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill (FRBM), Vijay Kelkar, advisor to Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said.
The legislation envisages complete elimination of central revenue deficit by ‘07-08, reports Our New Delhi Bureau.
Mr Kelkar asked the Finance Commission to consider framing a model FRBM that could be broadly be replicated by states. “The FRBM approved by state legislatures would send out a clear signal of the political establishment’s commitment to fiscal prudence,� Mr Kelkar said at the conference on issues before the Twelfth Finance Commission organised by the NIPFP. A few states such as Karnataka, Maharashtra and Punjab have already taken initiatives in this direction. He also mooted the setting up of an autonomous statistical commission in every state on the lines of the National Statistical Commission for credible and reliable data collation and dissemination.
He said the commission could consider looking at the HIPIC programme in this regard.