Confident of returning to power, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that this budget is not an election budget. Addressing the media after the budget, Siddaramaiah said that this was a well thought out budget, keeping in mind the limited resources of state. “This is normal budget for the year 2018-19, keeping in mind the fact that when we come back to power, we will have to implement it,” said Siddaramaiah.
Siddaramaiah pointed out that Karnataka’s GDP growth (8.5 percent) was higher than the country’s GDP growth (6.8 percent).
Siddaramaiah said that except for the excise department, which was affected by the Supreme Court order not allowing liquor sale near highways, all other departments will meet their revenue targets. “The inability to renew liquor licences for three months resulted in a loss of Rs 450 crores,” he pointed out.
Although in the budget, the date of implementation of sixth pay commission was not mentioned, during the press conference, Siddaramaiah said that the 30 percent pay hike for government employees and pensioners will come into to effect from 1 April 2018.
Despite the Rs 8,164 crore farm loan waiver, and the pay revision putting an additional burden of Rs 14,508 crore on the government, allocation for all programs announced have been given, and no funds have been cut, he added.
Acknowledging his government’s adherence to Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2002, Siddaramaiah said that three requirements mandated by the act have been fulfilled.
“The act demands revenue surplus, and for five years, we have kept a revenue surplus. Fiscal deficit should be less than three percent and in financial year 2017-18, the deficit was 2.54 percent. Loans have been taken by the government for development and creation of assets, but we have not exceeded 25 percent state GDP, as mandated,” he added.
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