Covid induced financial crunch looms large
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 03 2020:
With the overall economic condition of the country growing from bad to worse due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the State may also face a very difficult financial situation.
Many States like Manipur which have limited resources and are largely dependent on the Centre for their financial requirements are likely to face severe economic woes.
According to information received from the Finance Department, the State Government has initiated several measures to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the State's economy.
Till the end of the second quarter (July-September) of the current financial year, the State did not face any situation of overdraft.
But this does not mean Manipur has sufficient resources, said the source.
Being highly dependent on the Centre, the State always suffers financial difficulties whenever the economy slows down or there is a downturn.
The State Government is able to manage its financial requirements only because of proper management, said the source.
As a part of proper financial management and to ward off any situation of financial overdraft, fresh appointments in Government departments have been banned.
Meanwhile, a high level meeting of Commissioners, Secretaries and heads of departments was held today with the Chief Secretary in the chair.
The meeting discussed about submission of utilisation certificates in time so that next instalment of funds for several projects/schemes being implemented in the State under different departments can be obtained without facing undue obstacles, informed the source.
India is one of the countries whose economies have been worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ministry of Statistics has already warned that the country's economic growth would decline to just 3.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of the current financial year.
The World Bank has pointed out that the economy of India suffered very badly during the COVID-19 pandemic because it was in a very poor shape even before the outbreak of the pandemic.
The quantum of tax and revenue collected by the Central Government declined drastically during the pandemic.
As such, the country's economy shrunk alarmingly.
Compelled by the worsening economic situation, the Central Government has cut down the budgetary allocations fixed earlier, added the source.