Shashi Bhushan to present Odisha annual Budget 2018-19

Bhubaneswar: Finance Minister Shashi Bhushan Behera will present the annual Budget for 2018-19 in the Odisha Assembly on Friday.

The size of the Budget is expected to be over Rs 1.20 lakh crore.

The state government is expected to bring several populist schemes in the annual Budget 2018-19 as this will last full budget before the 2019 elections.

“This year’s Budget will give focus on the poor people, agriculture, health, education and social sectors. This will be a popular Budget,” said Behera.

Behera would present the Budget for the first time as he was inducted as Finance Minister in May last year.

According to reports, the Government might announce sops to please people belonging to all sections, including Government servants in this Budget keeping an eye on 2019 general elections.

The Budget is likely to have more allocations for benefit of farmers and poor people.

It may be noted that the last year’s Budget was Rs 1.06 lakh crore and the Government incurred loans of about Rs 10,000 crore from the open market to meet targeted spending.