Assam Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Act, 2017

No: 17 Dated: Apr, 05 2017

THE ASSAM FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND BUDGET MANAGEMENT (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2017

ASSAM ACT NO. XVII OF 2017

    An Act further to amend the Assam Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2005.

    Preamble:- Whereas it is expedient further to amend the Assam Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2005 hereinafter referred to as the principal Act, in the manner hereinafter appearing ;

    It is hereby enacted in the sixty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-

1. Short title, extent and commencement:-(1) This Act may be called the Assam Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Act, 2017.

(2) It shall have the like extent as the principal Act.

(3) It shall come into force at once.

2. Amendment of section 4:- In the principal Act, in section 4, in sub-section (3), for the existing clause (v), the following shall be substituted, namely:-

“(v) Anchor fiscal deficit of the State to an annual limit of 3 percent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in any financial year

Explanation: (a) For the purpose of this clause, the State Government shall be,-

(i) eligible for flexibility of 0.25 percent over the borrowing limit for any given year for which the borrowing limits are to be fixed, if their debt-GSDP ratio is less than or equal to 25 percent in the preceding year;

(ii) eligible for an additional borrowing limit of 0.25 percent of GSDP in a given year for which the borrowing limits are to be fixed, if the interest payments are less than or equal to 10 percent of the revenue receipt in the preceding year ;

(b) The two options of flexibility provisions as mentioned in Explanation (a) above can be availed of by the State Government either separately if any of the above criteria is fulfilled or simultaneously if both the above criteria are fulfilled, to attain a maximum fiscal deficit-GSDP limit of 3.5 per cent in any given year ;

(c) The flexibility in availing the additional limit under either of the two options or both as mentioned in Explanation (a) above will be available to the State Government only if there is no revenue deficit in the year in which borrowing limits are to be fixed and the immediately preceding year.”