who presents the budget speech

Minister Enoch Godongwana: 2024 Budget Speech

Honourable Speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula

His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa

His Excellency, the Deputy President Paul Mashatile

Cabinet Colleagues

Members of the Executive Committees for Finance

Honourable Members

The Governor of the South African Reserve Bank

The Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service Fellow South Africans

Introduction

Madam Speaker, according to two prominent economists, Alberto Alesina and Dani Rodrik, “A crude distinction between economics and politics would be that economics is concerned with expanding the pie while politics is about distributing it”. The point, Madam Speaker, is that the size and quality of the national pie is what informs, and ultimately determines, the realisation of our political imperative of redistribution.

Our mission over the past 30 years has been to restore both social and economic justice to our nation, and to decisively address the inequality that was the hallmark of systemic discrimination and dispossession.

The budgets we have tabled since 1994, have been about securing the goal of growing the economy, so that we can do more to address the inequalities and deprivation that still scar our society and undermine the promise of democracy.

So, it is with a great sense of privilege and purpose that I stand before you to present this last budget of the sixth democratic administration.

Madam Speaker, I therefore table the following documents before this House:

• The 2024 Division of Revenue Bill;
• The 2024 Appropriation Bill;
• The Estimates of National Expenditure;
• The 2024 Budget Review;
• The 2024 Fiscal Framework;
• The Second Adjustments Appropriation Bill;
• The Budget Speech; and
• The Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account Adjustment Bill

Economic Outlook

Global Outlook

Allow me to begin, Madam Speaker, with the global outlook.

Global growth is forecast to increase, from 3.1 per cent this year to 3.2 per cent in 2025.

The moderate improvement is due to growth in the United States and several large emerging economies.

There are downside risks from potential spikes in the global oil price, if the conflict in the

Middle East escalates and if growth falters in China – the country’s largest trade partner.

Domestic Outlook

Despite the improved global outlook for 2024, South Africa’s near-term growth remains hamstrung by lower commodity prices and structural constraints.

We estimate real GDP growth of 0.6 per cent in 2023. This is down from 0.8 per cent growth estimated during the 2023 MTBPS.

The revision is due to weaker-than-expected outcomes in the third quarter of 2023, particularly in household consumption and fixed investment.

Between 2024 and 2026, growth is projected to average 1.6 per cent.

The growth outlook is supported by the expected easing of power cuts as new energy projects begin production, and as lower inflation supports household consumption and credit extension.

But, there are also risks to the domestic outlook. These include persistent constraints in electricity supply, freight rail and ports; and a high sovereign credit risk.

Our challenge, honourable members, is that the size of the pie is not growing fast enough to meet our developmental needs.

Fiscal Outlook and Strategy

As such, our fiscal strategy supports economic growth and reduces risks to the economy while ensuring fiscal sustainability.

Compared to a year ago, the budget deficit for 2023/24 is estimated to worsen from 4 per cent to 4.9 per cent of GDP.

The higher budget deficit means that debt-service costs in 2023/24 have been revised higher, by R15.7 billion to R356 billion.

Debt-service costs will absorb more than 20 per cent of revenue. To put this into perspective, spending on debt-service costs is greater than the respective budgets of social protection, health, or peace and security.

For this reason, Honourable Members, we are strengthening our strategy and sticking to our fiscal goals.

A net reduction of R80.6 billion in non-interest expenditure is being implemented over the medium-term. At the same time, revenue has been revised up by R45.6 billion over the medium-term, relative to 2023 MTBPS. And, we have taken the decision to introduce a reform of the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account, also known as GFECRA.

Taken together, even with the spending increases I will announce later, the national government gross borrowing requirement will decline, from R457.7 billion in 2024/25 to R428.5 billion in 2026/27. The deficit will begin to improve from 2024/25, to an estimated 4.5 per cent of GDP, reaching 3.3 per cent by 2026/27.

Debt will now peak at 75.3 per cent of GDP in 2025/26.

All of this puts us in a position to continue to protect core services. It allows 60 per cent of non-interest spending to be directed to the social wage. It also allows us to preserve capital spending.

Compared to the MTBPS, we are adding R57.6 billion to pay for the salaries of teachers, nurses and doctors, among many other critical services.

Madam Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, in this budget we are announcing a reform of GFECRA. GFECRA is an account held at the Reserve Bank that captures gains and losses on the country's foreign currency reserve transactions.

Simply put: if the Rand strengthens against the US Dollar and other reserve currencies, the account balance declines, and vice versa. The account balance has grown to over R500 billion over the years because the Rand has depreciated over time.

A new settlement arrangement is being introduced that will reduce government borrowing and improve the Reserve Bank’s equity position.

Ultimately, we are bringing South Africa closer to our peers and ensuring alignment to international best practice. We will draw down R150 billion of the GFECRA balance once we have ensured that sufficient buffers are available to absorb exchange rate swings and the solvency of the Reserve Bank is not compromised.

Supporting Economic Growth

We have embarked on a broad structural reform agenda that aims to address the challenges that have held back our growth.

This agenda has included areas like electricity, logistics, water, telecommunications and visa reforms. The Budget Review details the good progress that has been made in these areas over the past few years.

But, obstacles remain and let me focus on the two largest of these.

Electricity

Load shedding is a problem that confronts all South Africans. It disrupts production, operations and livelihoods.

Reforming the sector will result in long term energy security. We took the necessary decisions in the past five years and these are bearing fruit.

To promote further investments in renewable energy, this budget proposes an increase in the limit for renewable energy projects that can qualify for the carbon offsets regime, from 15 megawatts to 30 megawatts.

Eskom continues to be a key role player in the electricity sector. And the debt relief plan allows the entity to focus on its core business.

We will release the report on the independent review of Eskom’s coal-fired power stations in the coming week. The review was done to inform part of the conditions attached to the debt relief plan.

The recommendations will feed into Eskom’s corporate plans to bolster accountability and oversight.

It is through the combination of private investment in new energy projects, rooftop solar installations and improvements in Eskom’s generation fleet that load shedding will reduce, and reliability and security of supply improve.

In addition, to support these efforts, we are introducing a new R2 billion conditional grant over the medium term to fund the rollout of smart prepaid meters.

This will begin with municipalities that have been approved for debt relief.

To address South Africa’s increasingly unreliable logistics system, Cabinet approved the Freight Logistics Roadmap in December 2023.

The roadmap outlines immediate steps needed to improve port equipment, locomotive availability and network security.

It also sets out a clear path for enhancing efficiencies, facilitating the introduction of competition and leveraging the financial and technical support of the private sector.

In this regard, third-party access to the freight rail network will be introduced by May 2024.

In ports, a private partner has been secured to upgrade Pier 2 of the Durban Container Terminal. This should increase private investment in equipment, enhance technological capability and improve operational efficiency.

Government has provided Transnet with a R47 billion guarantee facility to support the entity’s recovery plan and meet its immediate debt obligations.

Like Eskom, the guarantee comes with conditions. These conditions require Transnet to focus on its core activities, and for the entity to introduce private sector partnerships. This will improve Transnet’s sustainability and support the implementation of the roadmap.

Supporting Public Infrastructure Investment

Madam Speaker, I am proud to announce that as part of this budget, we are introducing fundamental and far-reaching reforms to infrastructure financing and delivery.

The reforms are to optimise the infrastructure value chain to be effective and efficient.

In this way, we will strengthen the public investment management and the associated value chain. We will also attract private sector participation.

In this regard:

• We gazetted the amendments to the PPP regulatory framework for public comments earlier this week. The amendments seek to reduce the procedural complexity of undertaking PPPs, create capacity to support and manage PPPs, formulate clear rules for managing unsolicited bids, and strengthen the governance of fiscal risk.
• We are reviewing institutional arrangements and governance for catalytic infrastructure. The intention is to create clearer mechanisms for accountability, cooperation and coordination.
• We are also consolidating similar functions to reduce duplication and inefficiencies. The intention is to fast-track delivery, particularly of blended finance arrangements.
• We are introducing several new financing instruments, such as infrastructure bonds and concessional loans. As part of this, a flow-through tax vehicle for specific infrastructure projects, similar to trusts and other investment vehicles, is being considered.
• A new funding window for proposals under the new dispensation of financing instruments will be opened to public institutions shortly.

Through these reforms, greater efficiency gains and infrastructure delivery will be fast tracked.

This will benefit network sectors, social infrastructure, PPPs and blended finance projects.

Mainstreaming Climate Finance

Madam Speaker, the National Treasury plays a crucial role in mobilising resources, designing incentives, and influencing policy to mainstream climate change.

As climate-related disasters intensify, a multi-layered risk-based approach is being developed to manage the associated fiscal risks.

This considers various funding instruments from grants to contingency funds, including the Climate Change Response Fund, depending on the incidence and intensity of the disaster event.

The National Treasury is reviewing disaster response grants to improve efficiency and create incentives for disaster planning, preparedness and risk reduction.

It is also developing a climate-budget tagging framework to influence policy, planning, and budget decisions, by tracking climate-related expenditures in public budgets.

The support of concessional funding providers, such as Multilateral Development Banks, is going a long way to support our climate adaptation, mitigation, energy transition, and sustainability initiatives.

Crowding-in the private sector is necessary to managing the climate disaster funds.

The government has raised US$3.3 billion so far from Multilateral Development Banks and International Finance Institutions to support climate change, energy, and just transition objectives.

We are actively participating in climate negotiations, aligning with the government's advocacy for reforming multilateral finance institutions.

We are also working with eight municipalities to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate and weather-related events, by providing technical assistance for climate-responsive capital projects.

Supporting the Production of New Energy Vehicles

The Electric Vehicles White Paper outlines our strategy to transition towards a broader new energy vehicle production and consumption in South Africa, starting with electric vehicles.

It aims to transition the automotive industry from primarily producing internal combustion engine vehicles to a dual platform that includes electric vehicles, by 2035.

To encourage the production of electric vehicles in South Africa, government will introduce an investment allowance for new investments, beginning 1 March 2026.

This will allow producers to claim 150 per cent of qualifying investment spending on electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles in the first year.

The incentive will be implemented in addition to the existing support under the Automotive Production Development Programme.

Government has also reprioritised R964 million over the medium term to support the transition to electric vehicles.

Leveraging Procurement for Transformation

Honourable Members, the Public Procurement Bill was expeditiously passed by the National Assembly. The amended Bill has now been referred to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence.

National Treasury is supporting provincial legislatures as they process the Bill and conduct nationwide public hearings.

The Bill provides for transformation measures through set asides, pre-qualification and advancement of persons disadvantaged by unfair discrimination.

These measures would be applicable to specified categories of persons including small enterprises owned by black people, black women, black youth, black people with disabilities, and enterprises within a particular geographical area including enforcement of transformation through the BBBEE level status.

The Bill also makes provision for local industrialisation through designations and measures for sustainable development, labour absorption and enterprise development, amongst others.

We are well aware that currently, procurement processes often fall short of delivering the most cost-effective solutions to government’s needs.

Too often, there is a substantial disparity between the prices government is being charged and the prevailing market prices.

For instance, the government buys ICT hardware such as laptops, uninterrupted power supply devices, monitors, and toners, at between 1.2 and 2 times more than market price.

Given that government buys in large quantities, we should in fact be paying less and leveraging our buying power to get more value for our money.

Obtaining value for money, as well as the principles of efficiency, transparency, and competition, remain paramount. And we want to assure South Africans that these principles are not incompatible with transformation.

Revenue trends and tax proposals

Honourable Members, the weak performance of our economy has resulted in a sharp deterioration in tax revenue collection for 2023/24.

At R1.73 trillion, tax revenue for 2023/24 is R56.1 billion lower than estimated in the 2023 Budget.

The shortfall is largely due to the decline in corporate profits and revenue from taxes on mining.

Over the medium term, revenue projections are R45.6 billion higher than the 2023 MTBPS estimates which increased personal income tax and additional medium term revenue proposals.

This budget contains tax measures that will raise R15 billion in 2024/25 to alleviate immediate fiscal pressure and support faster debt stabilisation.

Revenue is mostly raised through personal income tax by not adjusting the tax brackets, rebates and medical tax credit for inflation.

For alcohol products excise duties, above-inflation increases of between 6.7 and 7.2 percent for 2024/25 are proposed. This means:

• A can of beer increases by 14 cents;
• A can of a cider and alcoholic fruit beverage goes up by 14 cents;
• A bottle of wine will cost an extra 28 cents;
• A bottle of fortified wine will cost an extra 47 cents;
• A bottle of sparkling wine will cost an extra 89 cents; and
• A bottle of spirits, including whisky, gin or vodka, increases by R5.53.

We also propose to increase tobacco excise duties by 4.7 per cent for cigarettes and cigarette tobacco, and by 8.2 per cent for pipe tobacco and cigars. This translates to:

• A R9.51 cents increase for cigars;
• A 97 cents increase to a pack of cigarettes; and
• An extra 57 cents for a pipe of tobacco.

Kamogelo Mogane from Soweto, one of the over two-thousand-seven-hundred South Africans who sent Budget Tips to the Minister, has a suggestion I would like to share.

Kamo says: “I would suggest an introduction of tax payment for hubbly bubbly, e-cigarettes and other alternatives. The country has seen an increase in the number of youth smoking these products and parents are not pleased with this at all.”

Kamo, as a parent myself, I agree with you. And I am certain the Minister of Health also agrees.

You will be happy to hear then, that we are tabling an increase of the excise duty on electronic nicotine and non-nicotine delivery systems, known as vapes, to R3.04 per millilitre.

On environmental taxes, the carbon tax increased from R159 to R190 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent as of 1 January 2024.

The carbon fuel levy will increase to 11 cents per litre for petrol and 14 cents per litre for diesel effective from 3 April 2024.

A discussion paper outlining proposals for the second phase of the carbon tax will be published for public comment later in the year.

Madam Speaker, we are mindful of the already high cost of living and the impact fuel prices have on food and transport costs.

In this regard, we are proposing no increases to the general fuel levy for 2024/25. This will result in tax relief of around R4 billion. This is money back in the pockets of consumers.

Madam Speaker, progress has been made on the two-pot retirement system since I last addressed you during the MTBPS.

Contributions to retirement funds will be split, with one-third going into a “savings component” and two-thirds going into a “retirement component”.

From 1 September 2024, the first cash withdrawals could be made from the savings pot.

The two-pot system ensures that we strike a balance between preserving contributions to safeguard a better retirement for members, while addressing the plight of the people to access some of their retirement funds to help ease their financial burdens in times of distress.

Over the next few years, we are also implementing a global minimum corporate tax to limit the negative effects of tax competition.

Multinational corporations with annual revenue exceeding €750 million will be subject to an effective tax rate of at least 15 per cent, regardless of where their profits are generated.

The proposed reform is expected to yield an additional R8 billion in corporate tax revenue in 2026/27.

I encourage interested parties to provide comments on the draft Global Minimum Tax Bill published today.

Our long-term tax policy strategy remains focused on broadening the tax base while improving tax compliance and administrative efficiency.

Visible progress has been made in rebuilding and modernising SARS.

The tax authority has expanded the tax register, improved debt collections and reduced fraudulent refunds and trade valuations. This has led to improvements in revenue collection.

To address the high levels of illicit tobacco, SARS is deploying CCTV and related technologies at licensed tobacco manufacturers. Investigations and prosecutions have resulted in R10 billion in additional assessments from the key players in the illicit gold and tobacco industry, of which over R4 billion from key players in the illicit gold and tobacco industry.

These and other efforts have assisted with the improvement in revenue.

Our bigger challenge, as I have stated earlier, is that our pie is not growing fast enough and this limits our ability to generate sufficient revenues to distribute among our priority areas.

Spending Plans

Madam Speaker, at the time of the 2023 MTBPS when revenue collection had performed much worse than anticipated, departments had to reprioritise spending and absorb the wage increase within their baselines.

These measures were taken to protect our fiscal integrity. Equally, critical programmes had to be protected. This is a practical expression of fiscal consolidation that supports delivery of core services and the social wage.

Since then, we have been able to reverse some of the fiscal consolidation announced at the time of the MTBPS.

In this Budget, I am able to announce that the education sector is allocated an additional R25.7 billion for the carry-through costs of the wage increase over the medium term.

At the same time, we were able to protect the budgets of critical programmes such as the school nutrition programme. The programme provides food to pupils in almost 20,000 schools.

The early childhood development grant is allocated R1.6 billion rising to R2 billion over the medium term.

Health is allocated a total of R848 billion over the MTEF. These allocations include R11.6 billion to address the 2023 wage agreement, R27.3 billion for infrastructure, and R1.4 billion for the NHI grant over the same period.

The allocation for the NHI is a demonstration of the government’s commitment to this policy. There remain a range of system-strengthening activities, that are key enablers of an improved public health care system that must be undertaken.

Such activities include:

• Building a national health information system and digital patient records;
• Upgrading health facilities and improving quality of care to ensure that they meet the minimum criteria to be certified and accredited for contracting under NHI;
• Strengthening facility and district management in preparation for contracting;
• Granting semi-autonomous status for central (and potentially other) hospitals; and
• Developing reference prices and provider payment methods for hospitals.

Many of these activities are already underway but require further development before the NHI can be rolled out at scale.

Madam Speaker, there has also been significant progress in improving access to public transport services for low-income commuters.

The rail recovery programme of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa is continuing, with 27 corridors reopened by December 2023. This will increase the number of passengers on Metrorail from 15.6 million in 2022/23 to an estimated 48.6 million by 2026/27.

To ensure the effective discharge of its duties during elections, and its other responsibilities beyond the polls, the Independent Electoral Commission is allocated an additional R2.3 billion. The police and defence are also allocated an additional R350 million to support elections. A further R200 million will be allocated for political party funding as political parties prepare for the general elections.

Government also supports resettled farmers through land redistribution and tenure reform programmes, which have been allocated R6 billion over the MTEF.

To keep pace with inflation and increase access, permanent social grants are increased.

• An increase of R100 to the old age, war veterans, disability and care dependency grants. This amount will be divided into R90 effective from April, and R10 effective October;
• A R50 increase to the foster care grant; and
• A R20 increase to the child support grant.

We are sensitive to the increase in the cost of living for the nearly 19 million South Africans who rely on these grants to make ends meet.

In this regard, we have done as much as the fiscal envelope allows.

Work is currently underway to improve the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant by

April this year. National Treasury will work with the Department of Social Development in ensuring that improvements in this grant are captured in the final regulations.

These improvements will be within the current fiscal framework. For the extension of the grant beyond March 2025, the social security policy reforms, together with the funding source, will be finalised.

We have also made provision for key initiatives aimed at job creation.

R61.4 billion is allocated for employment programmes over the medium term. R7.4 billion has been identified for the Presidential Employment Initiative.

Government is also prioritising fighting crime and corruption with a focus on enhancing law enforcement agencies. A total of R765 billion is allocated to the peace and security cluster.

In the coming financial year, 10,000 new police recruits will be trained.

As part of the country’s responsibility to promote regional peace and stability, this budget will also allocate funding for the deployment of soldiers in Mozambique and the DRC.

Work on costing and identifying the needs for these critical missions will continue throughout the year and funding will be allocated as such.

R628 million has been allocated to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for the implementation of FATF and State Capture Commission recommendations bringing the total funding to these efforts to R2.3 billion.

Government is using R2.9 billion from the Criminal Asset Recovery Account to combat illegal mining and other priority crimes, with 60 per cent allocated for police deployments, including vehicle procurement.

This budget is also prioritising infrastructure provision. Government plans to invest more than R943 billion in public infrastructure.

The spending will support the refurbishment and maintenance of existing assets and the building of new infrastructure.

Division of Revenue

Madam Speaker, R2.8 trillion, or 51.1 per cent, of total non-interest expenditures, is allocated to provinces and municipalities over the next three years.

R531.7 billion is allocated to local governments, and R2.3 trillion for provinces.

An additional R105.5 billion rand is allocated to provinces over the next three years to cover the cost of implementing the 2023 public-service wage agreement, mainly in the education and health sectors.

The provision of these additional funds will cushion the wage bill pressures faced by these critical, personnel intensive departments, while freeing up of resources for capital investment and goods and services.

Moreover, reductions that were previously made on some grants have been reversed.

Restoring the baselines of these grants will help maintain important services for the most vulnerable and provide for critical capital investments.

However, to ensure public finances remain sustainable, reductions are made to several other grant baselines, although many continue to grow over the next three years despite the reductions.

Regarding municipalities, an additional R1.4 billion is provided for the municipal disaster recovery grant to fund the repair and reconstruction of infrastructure damaged by the tragic floods of 2023.

Madam Speaker, municipalities are the coalface of service delivery. Sadly, an unacceptable number of them are experiencing weaknesses in governance, financial management, and service delivery.

To address these challenges, and to transform municipalities into engines of growth, we have adopted a multi-pronged approach.

It focusses on tightening budget processes, ramping up oversight, increasing the skills and capacity of municipal employees, and driving investment in maintaining and building infrastructure.

The year ahead

Madam Speaker, this year our country hosts the annual meetings of the New Development

Bank, which will happen for the second time since formation of the BRICS bloc.

In 2025, South Africa takes on the presidency of the G20, following that of Brazil and India before that.

South Africa’s G20 presidency is an opportunity for us to advance the most pressing economic, developmental, and financial issues that face poor and developing countries.

As President Ramaphosa rightly stated in his State of the Nation Address, our goal is to “place Africa’s development at the top of the agenda when we host the G20 in 2025”.

We are working on the necessary allocations and identification of funds to make sure the various events are a success. As we have shown recently, South Africa remains an important regional and international leader.

Through participation and advocacy on platforms such as the G20, we can push for the substantive reform of multilateral institutions like the IMF and World Bank, so that developing countries can participate more equally in the decision-making processes and global governance.

Moral courage and know-how are not in short supply in our country. We should harness these gifts, not only to better ourselves and our economy, but for the benefit of the entire continent.

Madam Speaker, we have come a long way in the last 30 years. The 30 years ahead of us, and whatever challenges and opportunities they may bring, are something we should look forward to.

Given our difficult past, and some of the inevitable challenges we have faced as a young democracy trying to find its place in a world marked by a number of new and overlapping crises, it would be easy to indulge in extremes; either of blind optimism or crippling pessimism.

We should resist both these extremes.

Rather, we should heed the words of our first democratic President, Nelson Mandela, who more than most saw that the pursuit of socioeconomic justice and shared prosperity is a journey rather than a destination.

Allow me quote him at length:

“I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way.

But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come.

But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”

Inde lendlela.

Madam Speaker, as I conclude, I want to remind South Africans that the message they should take from this Budget is this: government is making the most out of very limited resources. We continue to:

• Support economic growth;
• Reduce the growth of government debt and the cost of debt; and
• Allocate more funds for core services, provide for the social wage and preserve infrastructure budgets.

I am grateful to the President and Deputy President for their continued support and leadership.

Thank you to the Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr David Masondo, and the excellent

National Treasury team led by the Director-General, Dr Duncan Pieterse.

Thank you to the Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service and the Governor of the South African Reserve Bank.

Thank you to my colleagues in the Ministers’ Committee on the Budget and in the Budget

Council who share the heavy load of the tough decisions that we make to maintain sustainable public finances.

To Parliamentary Committees of Finance, Appropriations and Public Accounts, I express my sincere appreciation.

To my wife and family, your love, support and forbearance are a daily inspiration.

Lastly, thank you to each and every South African.

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#BUDGET2022: All You Need To Know

Every February the Minister of Finance presents the budget speech in Parliament for the upcoming fiscal year. The 2022 Budget will be presented by Minister Godongwana on Wednesday, 23 February 2022.

What is in the budget and why should I care?

The budget presents an overall synopsis of the state of the country’s finances, amendments to tax, distribution of revenue across spheres of government and distribution of expenditure across national departments. This is where the legislation accompanying the budget speech plays a role, namely, the Appropriations Bill, Division of Revenue Bill and Tax Bills. The budget serves as a practical way through which government’s plans and policies are tangibly translated into goods and services.

Since resources are finite, the need for proper budgeting arises to allocate scarce resources to various governmental activities. Every item of expenditure has to be well-thought-out and worked out for a specific period. The budget is arguably the most important government document. It impacts the economy at large and the everyday lives of South Africans.

The Budget Cycle

Although most of us hear about the year’s Budget when it comes to Parliament, it has taken 14 months of work to prepare. In other words, by the time a Budget is introduced, the Budget for the following year has been in preparation already. The process is this lengthy because a number of time-consuming processes must be completed first. Each Budget is part of an ongoing three-year plan called the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). Planned expenditure for the year immediately ahead (year 1 of the MTEF cycle) is fixed while the two years after that (years 2 and 3 of the cycle) are revised in the next budget cycle.

Parliament’s Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports (BRRRs) are invaluable. These reports are compiled annually (during the midterm budget process) and are based on the work the Committees have done in relation to assessing government performance and audit outcomes and, most importantly, make recommendations and suggestions around the use of financial resources of government departments and entities for the next financial year. A report is included in the Budget Review which responds to concerns raised by the Finance and Appropriations Standing Committees, and by the Portfolio Committees in their BRRRs.

What happens after the speech?

Exercising budgetary and fiscal oversight is one of Parliament's basic tasks. The budget presented by the Minister is not the final budget but a proposal that has to be scrutinised and approved by Parliament.

Some measures, such as tax changes, come into effect on Budget day or soon after but can be overturned later.

After the speech, the debate will move from the chamber to the Committee corridor where - spread out over a couple of months – Committees will hold hearings with the Minister, Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), Treasury, relevant departments, statutory bodies, economists and civil society before compiling a report (Parliament is currently reviewing the timeframes and sequencing associated with the different financial instruments and Bills, and parliamentary procedures related to them). The Parliamentary Committees under the spotlight during this process are the Standing Committee on Finance and the Standing Committee on Appropriations along with their counterpart Committees in the NCOP. At the same time, the various Money and Tax Bills which give effect to the changes and appropriations in the budget, will be processed.

The Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Amendment Act enhances Parliament’s power to amend the budget as a whole and budgets of specific national government entities. Before the Act, first passed in 2009, Parliament could only approve or reject the budget, but not make alterations to it.

Read:  Role of Parliament in the Budget

Where can I watch?

You can catch the live broadcast on SABC Radio, SABC TV, various other news broadcasting channels and Parliament TV (DSTV Channel 408). It will also be streamed on Parliament’s social media platforms, namely: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

About this blog

"That week in Parliament" is a series of blog posts in which the important Parliamentary events of the week are discussed.

We host the latest posts of this blog, written by People's Assembly . You can find more on PA's blog .

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By Vhahangwele Nemakonde

Digital Deputy News Editor

3 minute read

21 Feb 2024

WATCH LIVE: Godongwana presents Budget Speech

Political parties expect the finance minister to address the country's poverty and electricity crisis..

Minister Enoch Godongwana delivers Budget Speech. (Photo: GCIS)

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is delivering his Budget Speech at the City Hall in Cape Town.

The minister is expected to update the nation on the state of the economy, public finances and progress on the government’s service delivery objectives.

The Budget Speech comes the same day Stats SA announced that inflation increased in January, from 5.1% in December to 5.3%, due to increases in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing and utilities, miscellaneous goods and services and transport.

ALSO READ: Be on the alert for NHI in budget speech

In light of this, Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Dion George highlighted the importance of raising child support grant to the poverty line.

SA can’t support thieving SANDF

George expects to hear about the government’s plan to end load shedding and grow the economy.

“What is our government going to do about growth? Our economy is not growing and is not generating the sustainable jobs that we need. So, what is [government] going to actually do? We know that it doesn’t care, but is it just going to do nothing?

ALSO READ: Budget 2024: What to look out for

“What is happening with the country’s power crisis? The government has been promising for over a decade that something will happen, but our businesses can’t flourish because of this crisis.”

Watch the Budget Speech below, courtesy of SABC:

Build One SA (Bosa) called on Godongwana to drive efficiency in government’s spending to ensure a sustainable fiscal path for South Africa’s future prosperity.

GOOD party called on Godongwana to address the country’s poverty, unemployment crisis and a low economic growth.

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“If he fails to comprehensively address that crisis then he will doom our country to extended low economic growth and deepening poverty and unemployment,” said the party’s secretary-general Brett Herron.

“These crises are all linked to each other and the only way we release South Africans from the poverty trap is by growing our economy and creating jobs.

“We need at least 5% – 6% economic growth to create employment that will meaningfully reduce the extreme poverty that nearly 18 million South Africans are trapped in.”

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Budget 2024: Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's full speech

The budget is the last of the current term of Parliament, which will come to an end when Parliament rises at the end of March.

• Budget Speech
• Enoch Godongwana

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tables his Budget in Parliament on 23 February 2022. Picture: @TreasuryRSA/Twitter

CAPE TOWN - Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tabled his 2024 Budget during a joint seating of the National Assembly in the Cape Town City Hall.

Moreover, the speech came a day after The Presidency announced that the general elections woul take place on 29 May.

Budget 2024 Speech by samuraista on Scribd

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• 2023 Budget Speech by the Minister of Finance Mr Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday 22 February 2023

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The Role of Parliament in the Budget Process

What is the Budget?

The budget is a key statement of government policy with a financial plan. Financial choices are made about competing priorities to ensure fiscal sustainability, allocative efficiency and value for money through this process.

Main functions of the budget

• The National budget is a public document and a key tool to hold government accountable;
• Resources must be allocated to where identified priorities are; and
• Spending, taxation and borrowing must support economic and social objectives.

Where and when is the Budget tabled?

The budget is tabled by the Minister of Finance in the National Assembly in February every year, two weeks after the State of the Nation Address (SONA). Some of the bills tabled on the day by the Minister are:

• The Division of Revenue Bill  which specifies how the money will be divided among the three spheres of government for the coming year.
• The Appropriation Bill  which sets out how the money will be divided among national departments and state institutions.
• The Income Tax Laws Amendment Bill  which indicates the changes to the different tax laws so that the government can raise the income.

What is Parliament’s role in the Budget Process?

Parliament is elected by the people to represent the people and therefore it authorises the executive to spend, tax and oversee executive action on behalf of the people of South Africa. Through effective oversight of the executive, South Africa can address poverty, inequality and unemployment, which are key objectives of the National Development Plan's Vision 2030.

NB: The Budget is not just about numbers and statistics; the budget is about ensuring service delivery to the people.

Parliament is mandated by:

• Section 77 (3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 that states: “All money Bills must be considered in accordance with the procedure established by Section 75”.
• The money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act of 2018 authorises Parliament to amend the budget.

The Budget Process

The national and provincial budget process is a continuous cycle of four stages that runs for a financial year beginning in April and ending in March the following year.

Budget stages

Drafting:  Parliament influences this stage indirectly through its oversight work for example, through the Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports (BRRRs). These reports require committees of Parliament to annually assess government performance and audit outcomes.

Legislative process:  Parliament considers, debates and makes recommendations, before approving money and related Bills tabled by the Minister of Finance.

Implementation:  Parliament will monitor how government departments and organs of state use their budgets.

Auditing and assessment:  At this stage, Parliament monitors spending and performance of government departments and organs of state for the financial year. Parliament considers:

• Annual reports from the Auditor-General.
• In-depth analyses and oversight reports by committees of Parliament e.g. Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Appropriations and Finance Committees.

Budget Process in Parliament

February: After SONA - We have budget day which involves tabling of the National Budget Speech, Appropriation Bill, Division of Revenue Bill, Estimates of National Expenditure, Budget Review (any other tax amendment laws)

March – April: Deliberations and adoption of the Fiscal Framework and Division of Revenue Bill (conduct joint public hearings on Division of Revenue Bill) by Appropriations Committees, consideration and adoption by the National Assembly and referral to the NCOP for concurrence

May: Deliberations, Consideration of the Provincial Negotiating Mandates and Final Mandates on the Division of Revenue Bill and adoption by the NCOP

June:  Deliberations, conducting public hearings and adoption of the Appropriation Bill

June – July: National Assembly votes, passes the Appropriation Bill and refers it to the NCOP for deliberation and concurrence

September: Tabling of the Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports (BRRR) as per Section 5 of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Amendment Act 13 of 2018

October: Tabling of the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), Fiscal Framework, Adjusted Appropriation Bill, Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure, Adjusted Division of Revenue Bill

November: Deliberations and adoption of Revised Fiscal Framework, Adjustment Appropriation Bill, Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure, Adjusted Division of Revenue Amendment Bill

Public Participation in the Budget

After the tabling of the Budget, the committees of Parliament on Appropriation and on Finance must conduct public hearings with relevant stakeholders. Submissions from stakeholders are received and considered by the committees. After the public hearings, the committees prepare a report and table it in the National Assembly that further scrutinises expenditure and revenue proposals.

Did You Know: 

•   A Bill is a Money Bill if it: appropriates money;
• imposes national taxes, levies, duties or surcharges;
• abolishes, reduces, or grants exemptions from, any national taxes, levies, duties or surcharges; or
• authorises direct charges against the National Revenue Fund, except a Bill envisaged in section 214 authorising direct charges.

Glossary of terms

Appropriation:  is when money is set aside for a specific and particular purpose. Fiscal sustainability:  refers to the ability of government to sustain spending, tax and other policies in the long run without threatening government solvency or defaulting on liabilities or promised expenditure. Allocative efficiency:  ensures that resources are allocated where the need is greatest or where the utility (advantage or fulfilment from using the resources) is maximised. Surcharges:  is an extra fee, charge, or tax that is added on to the cost of goods or services, beyond the initial quoted price.

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2023 Budget Speech by the Minister of Finance Mr Enoch Godongwana

22 February 2023 Wrap-Up Budget Speech 22 February 2023 Build Up and Budget Speech 2023 19 February 2023 Promo Video

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15 February 2023 Media Accreditation Advisory: 2023 Budget Speech to Parliament by Minister of Finance Mr Enoch Godongwana

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WATCH: Finance minister Enoch Godongwana delivers the budget speech

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana delivers the 2024 budget speech on Wednesday at 2pm. 

Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, will present the 2024 Budget Speech at the Cape Town City Hall this afternoon at 14h00. Godongwana will also introduce the Appropriation Bill during the same plenary sitting. For more news, visit sabcnews.com and #SABCNews on all Social Media platforms.

Extra money for health workers, but sector’s budget shrinks in real terms

Tax revenue seen r56.1bn lower than 2023 budget estimate, budget wrap: r150bn windfall from reserve bank to slash sa’s debt burden.

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What to know about Biden's 2025 budget proposal

President Joe Biden on Monday released his budget for fiscal year 2025, highlighting his efforts to help middle-class Americans get a leg up as the general election kicks off.

The proposals include restoring the expanded Child Tax Credit, bolstering Medicare drug pricing negotiations, national paid family leave programs, affordable housing and more.

The White House argued that Biden's budget would cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the next 10 years, primarily through adjustments to the tax code targeting the ultra-wealthy and cutting to "wasteful subsidies."

MORE: 5 of the biggest moments from Biden's State of the Union speech

The budget release comes days after Biden's State of the Union address , a campaign-style speech in which he focused on contrasting his vision for the country with that of Republicans -- namely his 2024 rival Donald Trump.

"The budget details the president's vision to protect and build on this progress and deliver on the agenda laid out in his State of the Union by lowering costs for families growing the economy from the middle out and bottom up by investing in all America to make sure the middle class has a fair shot and we leave no one behind," Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said in a call with reporters.

The policies, however, have little path forward in the currently divided Congress. Lawmakers are responsible for setting the budget, and are still working to fund some key agencies through the rest of this fiscal year.

House Republican leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer and Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, quickly dismissed the plan.

"House Republicans reject Biden's misguided budget proposal and have taken action to steer our nation back to a path of fiscal sanity," they said in a joint statement, adding: "The House's budget plan for the next fiscal year, preceding the President's proposal, reflects the values of hardworking Americans who know that in tough economic times, fiscal discipline is non-negotiable. House Republicans understand the American people expect and deserve nothing less from their government."

Asked what in the budget may actually be achievable, the White House declined to get into specifics but said it welcomed working with Republicans on these issues.

"We're going to work across the aisle in good faith to try and get these things done for the American people," deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden traveled to New Hampshire, where he will deliver remarks on the economy. "We think that the president's agenda is incredibly popular, and we encourage Republicans to join us."

Here is a closer look at what is included in Biden's budget proposal.

Health care savings

The budget proposes increasing the pace of Medicare drug negotiation and bringing more drugs into negotiation sooner after they launch. Last year, the administration named the first 10 prescription drugs that will be subject to negotiations -- medications to treat heart failure, blood clots, diabetes, kidney disease, arthritis, blood cancers and more -- under the Inflation Reduction Act.

MORE: Patients see 1st savings from Biden's drug price push, as Pharma lines up its lawyers

Biden's budget would also expand the IRA's rebates and $2,000 out-of-pocket prescription drug cost cap beyond Medicare and into the commercial market.

It would also extend the $35 cost-sharing cap for a month's supply of insulin to the commercial market.

Child care costs

Biden's plan would restore the expanded Child Tax Credit by an average of $2,600 for 39 million low- and middle-income families.

It would also establish an affordable child care program for families earning less than $200,000 and a national paid leave program of up to 12 weeks for eligible workers.

Plus, it would allocate $8.5 billion to states for Child Care and Development Block Grants -- the primary federal funding source for child care subsidies.

Home ownership tax credits

The budget includes a new tax credit for middle-class first-time homebuyers of up to $10,000 over two years.

Biden also calls on Congress to provide a one-year tax credit of up to $10,000 to middle-class families who sell their starter home to unlock further inventory in the housing market.

The budget would also provide for first-time homebuyers a $5,000 annual mortgage relief credit for two years.

Foreign policy funding

Overall, the president's budget includes $850 billion in discretionary budget authority for 2025 for the Department of Defense -- a 4.1% increase from the previous year.

It also includes a request for unmet needs from the administration's October 2023 supplemental request for urgent security needs through the end of 2024.

Tax changes

The majority of Biden's budget would be paid for by adjustments to taxes, such as reversing the 2017 Trump corporate tax cut. Under Biden's plan, the corporate tax rate would go from 21% back up to 28% -- though it would still be lower than the 35% rate prior to the Trump-era cut.

The proposal also includes a 25% minimum tax on people with wealth of more than $100 million and would deny corporate deductions for all compensation over $1 million for employees, targeting the high wages of some CEOs.

Plus, a 39.6% marginal rate would be applied to households making over $1 million.

Related Topics

• President Biden
• 2024 Elections

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Budget 2024: how to read the budget.

Union Budget 2024: For better understanding, a user-friendly guide for deciphering the Budget document is made readily accessible. Following the finance minister's budget speech in Lok Sabha, these crucial documents are promptly published on the official website, ensuring swift and widespread dissemination of vital financial information.

• Annual Financial Statement
• Demands for Grants
• Finance Bill
• Fiscal Policy Statements mandated under FRBM Act
• Macro-Economic Framework Statement
• Medium-Term Fiscal Policy cum Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement
• Expenditure Budget
• Receipt Budget
• Expenditure Profile
• Budget at a Glance
• Memorandum Explaining the Provisions in the Finance Bill
• Output Outcome Monitoring Framework
• Key Features of Budget
• Implementation of Budget Announcements

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Budget Speech: All you need to know about the FM's address to Parliament

Here is everything you need to know about what a budget speech ahead of the union budget 2024, the different parts it has, budget at a glance, finance bill, and more.

Budget 2021

What is the Budget speech?

How many parts are there in the budget speech, what does part a of the budget speech entail, budget 2024: here are 5 lesser-known facts about the union budget of india, our economy is fastest growing: fm sitharaman during the no-trust debate, fm nirmala sitharaman seeks global help to nab smuggling masterminds, opposition's no-confidence motion defeated in lok sabha by voice vote, india asia cup squad 2023: iyer, kl return; tilak gets maiden call-up, the sanctity of an interim budget, no separate budget under azadi ka amrit mahotsav programme, says govt, states' gross fiscal deficit below budget estimate for a 2nd yr: rbi report, govt to stick to rs 34 trillion tax collection goal in revised estimate, what does part b of the budget speech entail, where can you watch the budget speech live, what is the budget at a glance, what is the difference between union budget and budget at a glance, what is the finance bill.

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First Published: Dec 13 2023 | 4:04 PM IST

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TOMORROW: Governor Newsom to Present 2024-25 State Budget Proposal in Sacramento

Published: Jan 09, 2024

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom will present his 2024-25 January budget proposal tomorrow in Sacramento.

WHEN : Wednesday, January 10, 2024 at 10:30 AM

LIVESTREAM : @CAgovernor  Twitter page , California Governor  Facebook page , and the Governor’s  YouTube page .

This event will also be available to TV stations on the LiveU Matrix under “California Governor.”

**NOTE: This in-person press event will be open to credentialed media only. Media interested in attending must RSVP to  [email protected]  by no later than 7:00 AM on Wednesday, January 10th. Location information will be provided upon confirmation.

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• A Rs. 10,000 increase in the Government employees Cost of Living Allowance
• A Rs. 2,500 increase in the monthly Cost of Living Allowance of public pensioners
• Proposals to establish four new universities

Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the President stated today (Nov. 13) that the Cost-of-Living Allowance of Rs. 7,800 government employees are currently receiving shall be increase to Rs. 17,800 by Rs. 10,000 from January, 2024 while presenting the budget speech.

The President further stated that this allowance will be added to the monthly salary from the month of April and that steps will be taken to pay the balance accumulated from January to March 2024 in installments within a 6-month period, starting from October 2024.

The President further stated that the monthly Cost of Living Allowance of public pensioners will be increased to Rs. 6,025 by Rs. 2,500.

It was also stated that steps have been taken to establish four new universities considering the current trends for the technical sector.

Accordingly, steps have been taken to establish Seethawaka Science and Technology University (Lalith Athulathmudali Post Graduate Institute will be incorporated to this University), Kurunegala Technology University under the Kothalawala Defence University, Management and Technology University, International University of Climate Change.

The President arrived at the Parliament premises at around 11.30 this morning to deliver the budget speech. Thereafter, the President presented the budget speech for the year 2024 at around 12 noon. This was presented as the 78th budget speech of an independent Sri Lanka.

Following the presentation of the budget speech, the Hon. President, the Hon.  Prime Minister and the Ministers and diplomats joined for lunch held in the Members dining room.

According to the Appropriation Act of 2024, the total government expenditure is approximately Rs. 7,833 billion out of which Rs. 3,861 billion have been allocated.

From tomorrow (14) to the 21st, the debate on the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill (Budget) will be held on all 7 days excluding Sundays. Moreover, the Second Reading of the budget is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, November 21st at 6:00 pm.

Thereafter, the Committee Stage Debate will be held for 19 days starting from Wednesday, November 22nd to Wednesday, December 13th, excluding Sundays. Accordingly, the Third Reading of the budget for the financial year 2024 is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, December 13th at 6:00 pm.

During the budget debate period, time is allotted for 5 Questions for Oral Questions from 9.30 am to 10.00 am every day. Thereafter the debate is scheduled to be held from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm and the Motion at the Adjournment Time will be held from 6.00 pm to 6.30 pm every other day except for the days voting has been scheduled.

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Remarks by President   Biden on Lowering Healthcare Costs for   Americans

Indian Treaty Room

12:00 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT:  Kris, thank you, thank you, thank you.  First of all, thank you for the courage you’ve shown over the years dealing with your health issues but also for standing up here before the whole nation and explaining to us what you’ve gone through.  It’s not easy to do. You know, trying to afford your expensive medications, from blood disorders to asthma — millions of Americans — millions — have similar stories: lying in bed at night literally staring at the ceiling wondering what in God’s name will happen if their spouse gets cancer of if their child gets sick or something happens to them.  Are they going to have enough insurance?  Can they afford the medical bills they’re going to have?  Will they have to sell the house to keep things moving?

You know, and you find out a big reason why we’re lying awake at night with these questions is because the drug companies are charging exorbitant — exorbitant prescription drug prices — higher prices than anywhere in the world. 

When Bernie said it — I was listening in the back, Bernie.  You and I have been fighting this for 25 years.  Finally — finally we beat Big Pharma.  Finally.  (Applause.)  I’m serious.

I’m proud — (laughs) — I’m proud that my administration is taking on Big Pharma in the most significant ways ever.

And I wouldn’t have done it without Bernie.  And Bernie got a — you know, look, Bernie was the one who was leading the way for decades in which we’re — why we’re here today.

You know, Bernie mentioned that Americans pay more for prescription drugs than other advanced nation in the world.

If you want to — if you walk into a local drugstore here in America, the prices are at least two to three times more for the exact same prescription made by the exact same pharmaceutical company in Canada, France, Italy, and even in Eastern Europe — all around the world.  But not anymore.

For years, people have talked about how Medicare has the power to negotiate for lower drug price — prescription drug prices the government pays for, just like the VA does when they’re able to negotiate medicines and — and needs for the veterans.

But we’ve tried and tried and tried.  And finally, with Bernie’s help, I finally got my Inflation Reduction Act, which passed — and Bernie helped get it passed.  Not one Republican in the entire Congress — this — this did surprise me; I have to admit to you — not one single Republican voted for it — not one single one — to give us authority to take on and beat Big Pharma.

Take insulin for people with diabetes — it costs 10 bucks to make.  If you add everything in terms of packaging and all the rest, you can argue maybe $12 total.  And they’re charging as much as $400 a month.  Not anymore.  Not anymore.  Seniors with diabetes will only have to pay $35 a month from this point on.  (Applause.) 

And, by the way, when I first got the law passed, guess what?  It applied to every American — every American.  But the Republicans were able to cut back on the fact that only — they only were not able — the only thing they couldn’t defeat was seniors.

But I want to — I want those savings to be for every — every single person in America, no matter what their age.  No one should pay more than 35 bucks a month for insulin, period.

And, by the way, drug companies still make a significant pro- — product — I’m — excuse me, significant profit because I said: Ten bucks to make.  By the way, the guy who invented the drug didn’t want to patent it because he wanted it available to everybody.  Well, it’s available all right.

Look, folks, there’s a whole lot of prescription drugs that are ongoing — undergoing the process of lower pricing.

Medicare is now able to negotiate lower drices — lower prices for some of the costliest drugs that treat everything from heart disease to arthritis.

This year alone, the law that’s already passed — it’s in the law now that we signed — Medicare is negotiating

10 of the most costly drugs next year, and they’ll do that every year beyond for the — it goes well beyond 50 drugs. 

Next year, it’ll be 15.  It isn’t just saving seniors money.  Along with other reforms, it’s taxpayer money and we’re cutting the federal deficit.  And people say, “Well, it’s costing money.”  Guess what?  It’s costing the drug companies money. 

It cuts the deficit by $160 billion — $160 billion.  (Applause.)  No, I’m serious.  Think about it.  Over the next 10 years — because Medicare will no longer have to be — pay those exorbitant prices.  Instead of paying 400 bucks, they’re paying 35 bucks.

But I think we should be more aggressive.  It’s time to negotiate lower prices for at least 50 drugs a year.  We only have it — the law only requires 10 now, and then 15, and it moves up. Along with other actions, we’re not only saving lives, but if we move that number up, we’ll save taxpayers another $200 billion on top of the $160 billion, because Medicare will not be paying these exorbitant costs. It is a gigantic — and, by the way, the other guy talks about cutting the deficit.  He increased the deficit more than any president has in history.  And we’ve cut it. Look, in addition to the law we passed that will cap prescription drug costs for seniors on Medicare starting in 2025 — it’s already the law — doesn’t require anything else — because when I say these things, they say, “You think you can get it done?”  It’s already the law.  Every- — your drugs will not cost you — if you’re a senior on Medicare — will not have to pay more than $2,000 a year, no matter what the drugs costs.  And as you know — many of you unfortunately know or your parents — some of the cancer drugs cost $10-, $12-, $15,000 a year.  Combined — combined, they will not have to pay a penny beyond $2,000 a year.  (Applause.)  And the drug companies will still make a lot of money. Folks, Bernie and I want to cap prescription drug costs at $2,000 a year for every American, not just seniors.  (Applause.)

We’re here today to talk about how we’re lowering prices and cracking down on un- — unfair competition in prescription drugs. I’m a capitalist.  Capitalism, though, without competition isn’t capitalism;  it’s exploitation.  That’s what’s going on: exploitation. When Big Pharma doesn’t play by the rules, competitors can’t offer lower prices for generic drugs and devices that carry that medication, so prices are raised artificially.  I thank Bernie for leading the charge to do something about this.

For example, asthma is one of the most common respiratory illnesses in America.  Twenty-seven million Americans have asthma, including four million children.  Asthma causes about one thou- — one million visits to a hospital emergency rooms every year.

Nationwide, the cost of treating asthma is estimated to be $50 billion a year — the treating the asthma — not the drug, treating the asthma.

If you have asthma, you will likely need an inhaler to breathe.  Now this spring is here, the season and allergies are on — upon us.  We’re on the rise even more.  More people with asthma need inhalers to breathe.

You know, many asthma medications — many have — be on the market for more than 25 years.  They cost less than $5 to make.  They cost less than $5 to make, but the medication — the medication hasn’t changed at all. Theoretically, if the drug company came with a new medicine that would — they invested in a lot of money to find a better way, they di- — they wouldn’t have to — they could argue that — another price.  But drug companies have increased prices for asthma drugs up to eight times more than the original cost.  And the mechanism is- — and the m- — the mechanisms attached to the inhaler, the thing that makes it, you know, go into your — into your nose or mouth, that is a device that Med- — Medicare hasn’t changed much either. Look, these big companies try to keep generic companies away from getting patents on devices that deliver the medication through the inhalers. So, there’s two pieces.  It’s not just the — what’s in the inhaler.  It’s the mechanism that allows it to go into your body. For example, they slightly changed the cap of an inhaler and they use the new patent on that cap to block generic drug companies from being able to enter the market.  It’s a big deal.  Playing these games with patients and pricing, Big Pharma is able to charge Americans significantly higher prices and pad their profits. Senator Sanders has pointed out one company sells an inhaler for 49 bucks in the United Kingdom.  You know how much they charge in the United States for that one inhaler?  Six hundred and forty-five dollars.  So, I take — $645. If you need that inhaler and you get on Air Force One with me, the next time we go to London, you can get off and you can get it for — (laughter) — no, I’m serious.  Think about that, though.  Just think about that.  For the same exact medicine and the same exact device.  It’s outrageous.

Another company sells an inhaler for $9 in Germany — $9 in Germany — and we pay $286 here in the United States.  Nine bucks in Germany — same outfit, same company, same device — and it’s 30 times more.  Thirty times more.  I repeat: It’s outrageous.  And we’re doing something about it, finally. Why in God’s name should an American pay $645 for the same inhaler sold in the United Kingdom for $49 by the same outfit — the same outfit?

Bernie called out the drug companies during the congressional hearings.  And you just heard from Lina Khan, the Federal — the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, who is working with the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on these drug companies, and it’s a big deal. 

As a result of all this action, some drug companies have withdrawn their abusive patent listings for inhalers and other common products like EpiPens.

You know, the last few weeks, some of the big drug companies have gotten the message to reduce the prices for some asthma drugs.  Bernie is a big reason why that’s happened.  In fact, three of the four largest companies are capping the cost of inhalers for many patients — that can be up to $600 out of pocket — at $35.  There’s some progress going on beyond what we’ve done — the law.  But it’s about time. 

And — and going forward with more competition and more generic drugs in the market, the price could be even less than it is now and coming down. 

But that’s not all.  Because of all of you, my Inflation Reduction Act — drug companies that raise prices more than inflation are going to pay back Medicare the difference between what they charged and the inflation rate.  This is based on the price of their drugs in 2021. 

That means consumers will pay less for prescription drugs, and they’ll save taxpayers money and discourage companies from hiking prices faster than inflation in the first place.  But we want to do more.

It’s time the drug companies pay rebates when they increase prices faster than inflation — not just for seniors but for every single American — every single American.  (Applause.)

And today’s announcement follows actions we’ve already taken to significantly reduce the healthcare costs for average Americans.  We took action to reduce the cost of hearing aids for millions of Americans by as much as $3,000 for a pair of hearing aids. 

In addition, my administration is banning junk fees on health insurance plans.  These are the plans that stick consumers with big unexpected charges instead of covering the care they need.

Look, they ended up with fair surpri- — I ended up- — surprise medical bills so hospitals that are in-network can’t send you a bill for an out-of-network doctor that you didn’t choose or you would — haven’t even been consulted.  I was in the hospital for a while years ago and that happened.  

Kamala and I are protecting and expanding the Affordable Healthcare Act, known as Obamacare, which, I might add, is still a big deal.   (Applause.)

Today — thank God my mother wasn’t here — (laughter) — today, 21 million Americans are covered through the Affordable Care Act, 9 million more than when I took office.

I exact tax credits — we enacted tax credits to save an average of $800 per person per year, reducing healthcare premiums for millions of working families whose coverage — who have coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Those tax credits, though, expire.  You can only get it for — through this year.  And I’m calling on Congress to make tax credits permanent — permanent for this process.  (Applause.)

And, folks, all of our progress is in stark contrast to my predecessor and MAGA Republicans in — in the Congress.  They want to, quote — I love their word they love — they want to “terminate” the Affordable Care Act — I love it, “terminate” –my — as my predecessor says, kicking millions of Americans off their health insurance.

And, by the way, the vast majority of these people would not be able to get insurance because they have a preexisting condition. 

They also want to eliminate the Inflation Reduction Act, eliminate the savings to lower prescription drug prices, and so much more.

During the last administration, my president ex- — my predecessor exploded the national debt more than any previous president in the history in a four-year term — more than any prev- — he talks about the debt.  He exploded it more than any other president in a four-year term with his $2 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly — overwhelmingly benefitted the very wealthy and the biggest corporations in America. 

Now he and his Republicans in Congress want to cut Social Security — raise the age — and cut Medicare while they cut taxes for the very wealthy again.

You know, I got a better idea.  I’m going to protect Social Security and Medicare, along with Bernie and other members of Congress, to make sure the wealthy begin to pay their fair share to keep these programs solvent.  (Applause.)  It’s not hard. 

And let me repeat what I said that even some people, like Bernie, didn’t like at the beginning — and I don’t blame them — but I said on day one, to make a point: No one in America will pay a single penny more in federal taxes if they make under — less than — if they make less than $400,000 a year. 

I wish I was able to do that.  I was listed — and Bernie will — used to kid me about it — I was listed as the poorest man in Congress for 36 years.  I didn’t think I was poor.  I got a good salary.  But I was the poorest man in Congress.

Trump brags about he is the reason Roe v. Wade was overturned.  And here’s his quote: “I did something no one thought possible.  I got rid of Roe v. Wade.”  End of quote.

And now he and his MAGA officials are calling on a nat- — for a national ban on the right to choose in every state.

I promise you: With a Democratic Congress, Kamala and I will make Roe v. Wade the law of the land again.  I promise you.  (Applause.)

I’m talking too long here.  Let me close with this.  (Laughter.)  I’m excited about this.  I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to do.  I really am.

Bernie and I have been doing this work for a long time.  I know we don’t look it, but we’ve been doing it a long time.  (Laughter.)  Bernie and I have something else in common: We both married way above our stations.

But any rate, but we know we’ve made historic progress in the last three years: 35 bucks for insulin for seniors, $35 for inhalers for asthma, $2,000 a year total cap on costs for seniors.

We’re lowering the cost of some of the most expensive prescription drugs for seniors.

And what I want to do next — what we want to do next is these caps on costs for everyone — everyone, not just seniors.

With Bernie’s help, we’re showing how healthcare ought to be a right and not a privilege in America.  And that’s why I’ve never been more optimistic about — I really mean it.  You’ve heard me say in this very room how optimistic I am.  I am optimistic because the laws we got passed are now coming into effect, whether it’s the infrastructure or whether it’s this.  I mean, there’s so much more.

I just have — we have to — and I said this many times and I’ll get out of your hair.  You know, we have to remember who we are.  We’re the United States of America.

I mean — I mean these things from the bottom of my heart.  We’re the United — there is nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together.  We’re the only nation — as a student of history — that I can find that’s come out of every crisis we’ve entered stronger than we went in.  Every single time.  So, let’s remember who the hell — we’re the United States of America. 

God bless you all.  And may God protect our troops.  (Applause.)

12:17 P.M. EDT

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Budget 2024 speech full text: Read Nirmala Sitharaman’s Interim Budget speech

Budget 2024 speech: full text of nirmala sitharaman's interim budget speech; this is the sixth budget that nirmala sitharaman is presenting, which means that she has equalled the record of former prime minister morarji desai..

Budget 2024 Nirmala Sitharaman Speech

Hon’ble Speaker,

I present the Interim Budget for 2024-25.

Introduction

The Indian economy has witnessed profound positive transformation in the last ten years. The people of India are looking ahead to the future with hope and optimism.

With the blessings of the people, when our Government under the visionary and dynamic leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, the country was facing enormous challenges. With ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ as its ‘mantra’, the Government overcame those challenges in right earnest. Structural reforms were undertaken. Pro-people programmes were formulated and implemented promptly. Conditions were created for more opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship. The economy got a new vigour. The fruits of development started reaching the people at scale. The country got a new sense of purpose and hope. Naturally, the people blessed the Government with a bigger mandate.

In the second term, our Government under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister doubled down on its responsibilities to build a prosperous country with comprehensive development of all people and all regions. Our Government strengthened its ‘mantra’ to ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, and Sabka Vishwas’. Our development philosophy covered all elements of inclusivity, namely, social inclusivity through coverage of all strata of the society, and geographical inclusivity through development of all regions of the country.

With the ‘whole of nation’ approach of ‘Sabka Prayas’, the country overcame the challenge of a once-in-a-century pandemic, took long strides towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, committed to ‘Panch Pran’, and laid solid foundations for the ‘Amrit Kaal’. As a result, our young country has high aspirations, pride in its present, and hope and confidence for a bright future. We expect that our Government, based on its stupendous work, will be blessed again by the people with a resounding mandate.

Inclusive Development and Growth

Our humane and inclusive approach to development is a marked and deliberate departure from the earlier approach of ‘provisioning up-to-village level’. Development programmes, in the last ten years, have targeted each and every household and individual, through ‘housing for all’, ‘har ghar jal’, electricity for all, cooking gas for all, bank accounts and financial services for all, in record time.

The worries about food have been eliminated through free ration for 80 crore people. Minimum support prices for the produce of ‘Annadata’ are periodically increased appropriately. These and the provision of basic necessities have enhanced real income in the rural areas. Their economic needs could be addressed, thus spurring growth and generating jobs.

Social Justice

Our Government is working with an approach to development that is all-round, all-pervasive and all-inclusive (सर्वांगीण, सर्वस्पर्शी और सर्वसमावेशी). It covers all castes and people at all levels. We are working to make India a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047. For achieving that goal, we need to improve people’s capability and empower them.

Previously, social justice was mostly a political slogan. For our Government, social justice is an effective and necessary governance model. The saturation approach of covering all eligible people is the true and comprehensive achievement of social justice. This is secularism in action, reduces corruption, and prevents nepotism (भाई-भतीजावाद). There is transparency and assurance that benefits are delivered to all eligible people. The resources are distributed fairly. All, regardless of their social standing, get access to opportunities. We are addressing systemic inequalities that had plagued our society. We focus on outcomes and not on outlays so that the socio-economic transformation is achieved.

As our Prime Minister firmly believes, we need to focus on four major castes. They are, ‘Garib’ (Poor), ‘Mahilayen’ (Women), ‘Yuva’ (Youth) and ‘Annadata’ (Farmer). Their needs, their aspirations, and their welfare are our highest priority. The country progresses, when they progress. All four require and receive government support in their quest to better their lives. Their empowerment and well-being will drive the country forward.

Garib Kalyan, Desh ka Kalyan

We believe in empowering the poor. The earlier approach of tackling poverty through entitlements had resulted in very modest outcomes. When the poor become empowered partners in the development process, government’s power to assist them also increases manifold. With the pursuit of ‘Sabka ka Saath’ in these 10 years, the Government has assisted 25 crore people to get freedom from multi-dimensional poverty. Our Government’s efforts are now getting synergized with energy and passion of such empowered people. This is truly elevating them from poverty.

‘Direct Benefit Transfer’ of ` 34 lakh crore from the Government using PM-Jan Dhan accounts has led to savings of 
` 2.7 lakh crore for the Government. This has been realized through avoidance of leakages prevalent earlier. The savings have helped in providing more funds for ‘Garib Kalyan’.

PM-SVANidhi has provided credit assistance to 78 lakh street vendors. From that total, 2.3 lakh have received credit for the third time.

PM-JANMAN Yojana reaches out to the particularly vulnerable tribal groups, who have remained outside the realm of development so far. PM-Vishwakarma Yojana provides end-to-end support to artisans and craftspeople engaged in 18 trades. The schemes for empowerment of Divyangs and Transgender persons reflect firm resolve of our Government to leave no one behind.

Welfare of Annadata

Farmers are our ‘Annadata’. Every year, under PM-KISAN SAMMAN Yojana, direct financial assistance is provided to 
11.8 crore farmers, including marginal and small farmers. Crop insurance is given to 4 crore farmers under PM Fasal Bima Yojana. These, besides several other programmes, are assisting ‘Annadata’ in producing food for the country and the world.

Electronic National Agriculture Market has integrated 
1361 mandis, and is providing services to 1.8 crore farmers with trading volume of ` 3 lakh crore.

The sector is poised for inclusive, balanced, higher growth and productivity. These are facilitated from farmer-centric policies, income support, coverage of risks through price and insurance support, promotion of technologies and innovations through start-ups.

Empowering Amrit Peedhi, the Yuva

Our prosperity depends on adequately equipping and empowering the youth. The National Education Policy 2020 is ushering in transformational reforms. PM ScHools for Rising India (PM SHRI) are delivering quality teaching, and nurturing holistic and well-rounded individuals.

The Skill India Mission has trained 1.4 crore youth, upskilled and reskilled 54 lakh youth, and established 3000 new ITIs. A large number of new institutions of higher learning, namely 7 IITs, 16 IIITs, 7 IIMs, 15 AIIMS and 390 universities have been set up.

PM Mudra Yojana has sanctioned 43 crore loans aggregating to ` 22.5 lakh crore for entrepreneurial aspirations of our youth. Besides that, Fund of Funds, Start Up India, and Start Up Credit Guarantee schemes are assisting our youth. They are also becoming ‘rozgardata’.

The country is proud of our youth scaling new heights in sports. The highest ever medal tally in Asian Games and Asian Para Games in 2023 reflects a high confidence level. Chess prodigy and our Number-One ranked player Praggnanandhaa put up a stiff fight against the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsson in 2023. Today, India has over 80 chess grandmasters compared to little over 20 in 2010.

Momentum for Nari Shakti

The empowerment of women through entrepreneurship, ease of living, and dignity for them has gained momentum in these ten years.

Thirty crore Mudra Yojana loans have been given to women entrepreneurs. Female enrolment in higher education has gone up by twenty-eight per cent in ten years. In STEM courses, girls and women constitute forty-three per cent of enrolment – one of the highest in the world. All these measures are getting reflected in the increasing participation of women in workforce.

Making ‘ Triple Talaq ’ illegal, reservation of one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State legislative assemblies, and giving over seventy per cent houses under PM Awas Yojana in rural areas to women as sole or joint owners have enhanced their dignity.

Exemplary Track Record of Governance, Development and Performance (GDP)

Besides delivering on high growth in terms of Gross Domestic Product, the Government is equally focused on a more comprehensive ‘GDP’, i.e., ’Governance, Development and Performance’.

Our Government has provided transparent, accountable, people-centric and prompt trust-based administration with ‘citizen-first’ and ‘minimum government, maximum governance’ approach.

The impact of all-round development is discernible in all sectors. There is macro-economic stability, including in the external sector. Investments are robust. The economy is doing well.

People are living better and earning better, with even greater aspirations for the future. Average real income of the people has increased by fifty per cent. Inflation is moderate. People are getting empowered, equipped and enabled to pursue their aspirations. There is effective and timely delivery of programmes and of large projects.

Economic Management

The multipronged economic management over the past ten years has complemented people-centric inclusive development. Following are some of the major elements.

All forms of infrastructure, physical, digital or social, are being built in record time.

All parts of the country are becoming active participants in economic growth.

Digital Public Infrastructure, a new ‘factor of production’ in the 21st century, is instrumental in formalization of the economy.

Goods and Services Tax has enabled ‘One Nation, One Market, One Tax’. Tax reforms have led to deepening and widening of tax base.

Strengthening of the financial sector has helped in making savings, credit and investments more efficient.

GIFT IFSC and the unified regulatory authority, IFSCA are creating a robust gateway for global capital and financial services for the economy.

Proactive inflation management has helped keep inflation within the policy band.

Global Context

Geopolitically, global affairs are becoming more complex and challenging with wars and conflicts. Globalization is being redefined with reshoring and friend-shoring, disruption and fragmentation of supply chains, and competition for critical minerals and technologies. A new world order is emerging after the Covid pandemic.

India assumed G20 Presidency during very difficult times for the world. The global economy was going through high inflation, high interest rates, low growth, very high public debt, low trade growth, and climate challenges. The pandemic had led to a crisis of food, fertilizer, fuel and finances for the world, while India successfully navigated its way. The country showed the way forward and built consensus on solutions for those global problems.

The recently announced India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor is a strategic and economic game changer for India and others. In the words of Hon’ble Prime Minister, the corridor “will become the basis of world trade for hundreds of years to come, and history will remember that this corridor was initiated on Indian soil”.

Vision for ‘Viksit Bharat’

Our vision for ‘Viksit Bharat’ is that of “Prosperous Bharat in harmony with nature, with modern infrastructure, and providing opportunities for all citizens and all regions to reach their potential”.

With confidence arising from strong and exemplary track-record of performance and progress earning ‘Sabka Vishwas’, the next five years will be years of unprecedented development, and golden moments to realize the dream of developed India @ 2047. The trinity of demography, democracy and diversity backed by ‘Sabka Prayas’ has the potential to fulfill aspirations of every Indian.

As Hon’ble Prime Minister in his Independence Day address to the nation mentioned, “There is no dearth of opportunities; as many opportunities as we want. The country is capable of creating more opportunities. Sky’s the limit”.

Strategy for ‘Amrit Kaal’

Our Government will adopt economic policies that foster and sustain growth, facilitate inclusive and sustainable development, improve productivity, create opportunities for all, help them enhance their capabilities, and contribute to generation of resources to power investments and fulfil aspirations.

Guided by the principle ‘Reform, Perform, and Transform’, the Government will take up next generation reforms, and build consensus with the states and stakeholders for effective implementation.

It is an important policy priority for our Government to ensure timely and adequate finances, relevant technologies and appropriate training for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) to grow and also compete globally. Orienting the regulatory environment to facilitate their growth will be an important element of this policy mix.

Aligning with the ‘Panchamrit’ goals, our Government will facilitate sustaining high and more resource-efficient economic growth. This will work towards energy security in terms of availability, accessibility and affordability.

For meeting the investment needs our Government will prepare the financial sector in terms of size, capacity, skills and regulatory framework.

Aspirational Districts Programme

Our Government stands ready to assist the states in faster development of aspirational districts and blocks, including generation of ample economic opportunities.

Development of the East

Our Government will pay utmost attention to make the eastern region and its people a powerful driver of India’s growth.

PM Awas Yojana (Grameen)

Despite the challenges due to COVID, implementation of PM Awas Yojana (Grameen) continued and we are close to achieving the target of three crore houses. Two crore more houses will be taken up in the next five years to meet the requirement arising from increase in the number of families.

Rooftop solarization and muft bijli

Through rooftop solarization, one crore households will be enabled to obtain up to 300 units free electricity every month. This scheme follows the resolve of Hon’ble Prime Minister on the historic day of consecration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Following benefits are expected.

Savings up to fifteen to eighteen thousand rupees annually for households from free solar electricity and selling the surplus to the distribution companies; Charging of electric vehicles; Entrepreneurship opportunities for a large number of vendors for supply and installation; Employment opportunities for the youth with technical skills in manufacturing, installation and maintenance;

Housing for middle class

Our Government will launch a scheme to help deserving sections of the middle class “living in rented houses, or slums, or chawls and unauthorized colonies” to buy or build their own houses.

Medical Colleges

Several youth are ambitious to get qualified as doctors. They aim to serve our people through improved healthcare services. Our Government plans to set up more medical colleges by utilizing the existing hospital infrastructure under various departments. A committee for this purpose will be set-up to examine the issues and make relevant recommendations.

Cervical Cancer Vaccination

Our Government will encourage vaccination for girls in age group of 9 to 14 years for prevention of cervical cancer.

Maternal and child health care

Various schemes for maternal and child care will be brought under one comprehensive programme for synergy in implementation. Upgradation of anganwadi centres under “Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0” will be expedited for improved nutrition delivery, early childhood care and development.

The newly designed U-WIN platform for managing immunization and intensified efforts of Mission Indradhanush will be rolled out expeditiously throughout the country.

Ayushman Bharat

Healthcare cover under Ayushman Bharat scheme will be extended to all ASHA workers, Anganwadi Workers and Helpers.

Agriculture and food processing

The efforts for value addition in agricultural sector and boosting farmers’ income will be stepped up. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has benefitted 38 lakh farmers and generated 10 lakh employment. Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Yojana has assisted 2.4 lakh SHGs and sixty thousand individuals with credit linkages. Other schemes are complementing the efforts for reducing post-harvest losses, and improving productivity and incomes.

For ensuring faster growth of the sector, our Government will further promote private and public investment in
post-harvest activities including aggregation, modern storage, efficient supply chains, primary and secondary processing and marketing and branding.

After the successful adoption of Nano Urea, application of Nano DAP on various crops will be expanded in all agro-climatic zones.

Atmanirbhar Oil Seeds Abhiyan

Building on the initiative announced in 2022, a strategy will be formulated to achieve ‘atmanirbharta’ for oil seeds such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower. This will cover research for high-yielding varieties, widespread adoption of modern farming techniques, market linkages, procurement, value addition, and crop insurance.

Dairy Development

A comprehensive programme for supporting dairy farmers will be formulated. Efforts are already on to control foot and mouth disease. India is the world’s largest milk producer but with low productivity of milch-animals. The programme will be built on the success of existing schemes such Rashtriya Gokul Mission, National Livestock Mission, and Infrastructure Development Funds for dairy processing and animal husbandry.

Matsya Sampada

It was our Government which set up a separate Department for Fisheries realizing the importance of assisting fishermen. This has resulted in doubling of both inland and aquaculture production. Seafood export since 2013-14 has also doubled. Implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) will be stepped up to enhance aquaculture productivity from existing 3 to
5 tons per hectare, double exports to ` 1 lakh crore and generate 55 lakh employment opportunities in near future.

Five integrated aquaparks will be setup.

Lakhpati Didi

Eighty-three lakh SHGs with nine crore women are transforming rural socio-economic landscape with empowerment and self-reliance. Their success has assisted nearly one crore women to become Lakhpati Didi already. They are an inspiration to others. Their achievements will be recognized through honouring them. Buoyed by the success, it has been decided to enhance the target for Lakhpati Didi from 
2 crore to 3 crore.

Technological Changes

New age technologies and data are changing the lives of people and businesses. They are also enabling new economic opportunities and facilitating provision of high-quality services at affordable prices for all, including those at ‘bottom of the pyramid’. Opportunities for India at the global level are expanding. India is showing solutions through innovation and entrepreneurship of its people.

Research and Innovation for catalyzing growth, employment and development

Prime Minister Shastri gave the slogan of “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan”. Prime Minister Vajpayee made that “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Vigyan”. Prime Minister Modi has furthered that to “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Vigyan and Jai Anusandhan”, as innovation is the foundation of development.

For our tech savvy youth, this will be a golden era. 
A corpus of rupees one lakh crore will be established with
fifty-year interest free loan. The corpus will provide long-term financing or refinancing with long tenors and low or nil interest rates. This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains. We need to have programmes that combine the powers of our youth and technology.

A new scheme will be launched for strengthening 
deep-tech technologies for defence purposes and expediting ‘atmanirbharta’.

Infrastructure Development

Building on the massive tripling of the capital expenditure outlay in the past 4 years resulting in huge multiplier impact on economic growth and employment creation, the outlay for the next year is being increased by 11.1 per cent to eleven lakh, eleven thousand, one hundred and eleven crore rupees 
(` 11,11,111 crore). This would be 3.4 per cent of the GDP.

Three major economic railway corridor programmes will be implemented. These are: energy, mineral and cement corridors, port connectivity corridors, and high traffic density corridors.

The projects have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti for enabling multi-modal connectivity. They will improve logistics efficiency and reduce cost.

The resultant decongestion of the high-traffic corridors will also help in improving operations of passenger trains, resulting in safety and higher travel speed for passengers. Together with dedicated freight corridors, these three economic corridor programmes will accelerate our GDP growth and reduce logistic costs.

Forty thousand normal rail bogies will be converted to the Vande Bharat standards to enhance safety, convenience and comfort of passengers.

Aviation Sector

The aviation sector has been galvanized in the past 
ten years. Number of airports have doubled to 149. Roll out of air connectivity to tier-two and tier-three cities under UDAN scheme has been widespread. Five hundred and seventeen new routes are carrying 1.3 crore passengers. Indian carriers have pro-actively placed orders for over 1000 new aircrafts. Expansion of existing airports and development of new airports will continue expeditiously.

Metro and NaMo Bharat

We have a fast-expanding middle class and rapid urbanization is taking place. Metro Rail and NaMo Bharat can be the catalyst for the required urban transformation. Expansion of these systems will be supported in large cities focusing on transit-oriented development.

Green Energy

Towards meeting our commitment for ‘net-zero’ by 2070, the following measures will be taken.

Viability gap funding will be provided for harnessing offshore wind energy potential for initial capacity of one giga-watt.

Coal gasification and liquefaction capacity of 100 MT will be set up by 2030. This will also help in reducing imports of natural gas, methanol, and ammonia.

Phased mandatory blending of compressed biogas (CBG) in compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport and piped natural gas (PNG) for domestic purposes will be mandated.

Financial assistance will be provided for procurement of biomass aggregation machinery to support collection.

Electric Vehicle Ecosystem

Our Government will expand and strengthen the e-vehicle ecosystem by supporting manufacturing and charging infrastructure. Greater adoption of e-buses for public transport networks will be encouraged through payment security mechanism.

Bio-manufacturing and Bio-foundry

For promoting green growth, a new scheme of
bio-manufacturing and bio-foundry will be launched. This will provide environment friendly alternatives such as biodegradable polymers, bio-plastics, bio-pharmaceuticals and bio-agri-inputs. This scheme will also help in transforming today’s consumptive manufacturing paradigm to the one based on regenerative principles.

Blue Economy 2.0

For promoting climate resilient activities for blue economy 2.0, a scheme for restoration and adaptation measures, and coastal aquaculture and mariculture with integrated and 
multi-sectoral approach will be launched.

Comprehensive development of tourist centres

The success of organizing G20 meetings in sixty places presented diversity of India to global audience. Our economic strength has made the country an attractive destination for business and conference tourism. Our middle class also now aspires to travel and explore. Tourism, including spiritual tourism, has tremendous opportunities for local entrepreneurship.

States will be encouraged to take up comprehensive development of iconic tourist centres, branding and marketing them at global scale. A framework for rating of the centres based on quality of facilities and services will be established. Long-term interest free loans will be provided to States for financing such development on matching basis.

To address the emerging fervour for domestic tourism, projects for port connectivity, tourism infrastructure, and amenities will be taken up on our islands, including Lakshadweep. This will help in generating employment also.

Promoting Investments

The FDI inflow during 2014-23 was USD 596 billion marking a golden era. That is twice the inflow during 2005-14. 
For encouraging sustained foreign investment, we are negotiating bilateral investment treaties with our foreign partners, in the spirit of ‘first develop India’.

Reforms in the States for ‘Viksit Bharat’

Many growth and development enabling reforms are needed in the states for realizing the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’. 
A provision of seventy-five thousand crore rupees as fifty-year interest free loan is proposed this year to support those milestone-linked reforms by the State Governments.

Societal Changes

The Government will form a high-powered committee for an extensive consideration of the challenges arising from fast population growth and demographic changes. The committee will be mandated to make recommendations for addressing these challenges comprehensively in relation to the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’.

Amrit Kaal as Kartavya Kaal

Our Government stands committed to strengthening and expanding the economy with high growth and to create conditions for people to realize their aspirations. Hon’ble Prime Minister in his Independence Day address to the nation, in the 75th year of our Republic said; we “commit ourselves to national development, with new inspirations, new consciousness, new resolutions, as the country opens up immense possibilities and opportunities”. It is our ‘Kartavya Kaal’.

Every challenge of the pre-2014 era was overcome through our economic management and our governance. These have placed the country on a resolute path of sustained high growth. This has been possible through our right policies, true intentions, and appropriate decisions. In the full budget in July, our Government will present a detailed roadmap for our pursuit of ‘Viksit Bharat’.

Revised Estimates 2023-24

The Revised Estimate of the total receipts other than borrowings is Rs 27.56 lakh crore, of which the tax receipts are Rs 23.24 lakh crore. The Revised Estimate of the total expenditure is Rs. 44.90 lakh crore.

The revenue receipts at Rs 30.03 lakh crore are expected to be higher than the Budget Estimate, reflecting strong growth momentum and formalization in the economy.

The Revised Estimate of the fiscal deficit is 5.8 per cent of GDP, improving on the Budget Estimate, notwithstanding moderation in the nominal growth estimates.

Budget Estimates 2024-25

Coming to 2024-25, the total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at ` 30.80 and 47.66 lakh crore respectively. The tax receipts are estimated at ` 26.02 lakh crore. The scheme of fifty-year interest free loan for capital expenditure to states will be continued this year with total outlay of ` 1.3 lakh crore.

We continue on the path of fiscal consolidation, as announced in my Budget Speech for 2021-22, to reduce fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26. The fiscal deficit in 
2024-25 is estimated to be 5.1 per cent of GDP, adhering to that path.

The gross and net market borrowings through dated securities during 2024-25 are estimated at ` 14.13 and 
11.75 lakh crore respectively. Both will be less than that in 
2023-24. Now that the private investments are happening at scale, the lower borrowings by the Central Government will facilitate larger availability of credit for the private sector.

Vote on Account

I will be seeking ‘vote on account’ approval of the Parliament through the Appropriation Bill for a part of the financial year 2024-25.

I will, now, move to Part B.

Hon’ble Speaker Sir,

Direct taxes

Over the last ten years, the direct tax collections have more than trebled and the return filers swelled to 2.4 times. 
I would like to assure the taxpayers that their contributions have been used wisely for the development of the country and welfare of its people. I appreciate the tax payers for their support.

The Government has reduced and rationalized tax rates. Under the new tax scheme, there is now no tax liability for tax payers with income up to ₹ 7 lakh, up from ₹ 2.2 lakh in the financial year 2013-14. The threshold for presumptive taxation for retail businesses was increased from ₹ 2 crore to ₹ 3 crore. Similarly, the threshold for professionals eligible for presumptive taxation was increased from ₹ 50 lakh to ₹ 75 Lakh. Also, corporate tax rate was decreased from 30 per cent to 22 per cent for existing domestic companies and to 15 per cent for certain new manufacturing companies.

In the last five years, our focus has been to improve 
tax-payer services. The age-old jurisdiction-based assessment system was transformed with the introduction of Faceless Assessment and Appeal, thereby imparting greater efficiency, transparency and accountability. Introduction of updated income tax returns, a new Form 26AS and prefilling of tax returns have made filing of tax returns simpler and easier. Average processing time of returns has been reduced from 93 days in the year 
2013-14 to a mere ten days this year, thereby making refunds faster.

Indirect Taxes

By unifying the highly fragmented indirect tax regime in India, GST has reduced the compliance burden on trade and industry. The industry has acknowledged the benefits of GST. According to a recent survey conducted by a leading consulting firm, 94 per cent of industry leaders view the transition to GST as largely positive. According to 80 per cent of the respondents, it has led to supply chain optimisation, as elimination of tax arbitrage and octroi has resulted in disbanding of check posts at state and city boundaries. At the same time, tax base of GST more than doubled and the average monthly gross GST collection has almost doubled to ₹ 1.66 lakh crore, this year. States too have benefited. States’ SGST revenue, including compensation released to states, in the post-GST period of 
2017-18 to 2022-23, has achieved a buoyancy of 1.22. In contrast, the tax buoyancy of State revenues from subsumed taxes in the pre-GST four-year period of 2012-13 to 2015-16 was a mere 0.72. The biggest beneficiaries are the consumers, as reduction in logistics costs and taxes have brought down prices of most goods and services.

We have taken a number of steps in Customs to facilitate international trade. As a result, the import release time declined by 47 per cent to 71 hours at Inland Container Depots, by 28 per cent to 44 hours at air cargo complexes and by 27 per cent to 
85 hours at sea ports, over the last four years since 2019, when the National Time Release Studies were first started.

Interim Budget 2024 Tax proposals

As for tax proposals, in keeping with the convention, I do not propose to make any changes relating to taxation and propose to retain the same tax rates for direct taxes and indirect taxes including import duties. However, certain tax benefits to start-ups and investments made by sovereign wealth or pension funds as also tax exemption on certain income of some IFSC units are expiring on 31.03.2024. To provide continuity in taxation, 
I propose to extend the date to 31.03.2025.

Moreover, in line with our Government’s vision to improve ease of living and ease of doing business, I wish to make an announcement to improve tax payer services. There are a large number of petty, non-verified, non-reconciled or disputed direct tax demands, many of them dating as far back as the year 1962, which continue to remain on the books, causing anxiety to honest tax payers and hindering refunds of subsequent years. 
I propose to withdraw such outstanding direct tax demands up to twenty-five thousand rupees (₹ 25,000) pertaining to the period up to financial year 2009-10 and up to ten-thousand rupees (₹ 10,000) for financial years 2010-11 to 2014-15. This is expected to benefit about a crore tax-payers.

Economy – Then and Now

In 2014 when our Government assumed the reins, the responsibility to mend the economy step by step and to put the governance systems in order was enormous. The need of the hour was to give hope to the people, to attract investments, and to build support for the much-needed reforms. The Government did that successfully following our strong belief of ‘nation-first’.

The crisis of those years has been overcome, and the economy has been put firmly on a high sustainable growth path with all-round development. It is now appropriate to look at where we were then till 2014 and where we are now, only for the purpose of drawing lessons from the mismanagement of those years. The Government will lay a White Paper on table of the House.

The exemplary track record of governance, development and performance, effective delivery, and ‘Jan Kalyan’ has given the Government trust, confidence and blessings of the people to realize, whatever it takes, the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’ with good intentions, true dedication and hard work in the coming years and decades.

With this, I commend the interim budget to this august House.

• Budget 2024
• interim budget
• Nirmala Sitharaman

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Canada Letter

Canada’s federal budget goes from big secret to ‘roadshow’.

Breaking with Canadian tradition, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been crisscrossing the country announcing measures from the April 16 budget in advance.

By Ian Austen

Even for a country with a system of government that is prone to keeping things confidential, the secrecy that once surrounded federal budgets stood out.

For decades, both Liberal and Conservative federal governments gradually eroded that once seemingly sacred concept with selective advance leaks.

But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken it to a new level. Instead of leaks attributed to anonymous sources, the prime minister has been traveling the country to give Canadians a preview of a variety of major budget measures. Many of them appear to be intended to lure back younger voters to his Liberal Party, including spending to increase housing, expanding child care programs and introducing a national school food program.

There may be little in the way of big announcements left for Chrystia Freeland, the finance minister, to unveil when she presents the actual budget on April 16.

“This preannouncement of the budget roadshow — we’ve never seen that before at the prime ministerial level,” Jonathan Malloy, a political scientist at Carleton University who studies Parliament, told me. “There has to be an election next year and the government is not doing well in the polls. So that’s an important factor. He needs the coverage; he needs the supposed good news.”

Mr. Trudeau’s approach is a stark contrast to the one taken by Louis St. Laurent, who was the Liberal prime minister from 1948 to 1957. To avoid having secretaries or clerks learn about budget measures in advance, Mr. St. Laurent made his finance ministers personally type their budget speeches .

A vast budget secrecy machine developed over time. Copies of the federal budget were flown across the country by the air force and escorted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to branches of the Bank of Canada, where they would be locked up until the finance minister spoke. Government printers were locked down in printing plants and reporters were locked up in conference rooms, along with officials and political staffers offering spins and explanations, to review the mountain of paper in advance.

“Over time, it became almost a fetish that this was just a uniquely secret document,” Professor Malloy said.

Leaks were taken seriously. In 1989, Doug Small, a reporter for Global TV, broadcast details of the upcoming budget after obtaining a summary version from a government employee who, in turn, had received it from someone he knew at a recycling plant. Mr. Small and four other people were charged with theft and possession of stolen property. A court threw out the case.

Unlike budgets in the United States, Canadian budgets are not the subject of protracted negotiations and amendments. They either pass more or less as presented or the government falls.

So the most common explanation for the secrecy is that it prevents people from taking advantage of, say, tax changes to profit financially. Professor Malloy said, however, that there was little evidence of people trying to do that in the past.

But keeping the major piece of legislation secret until the last minute, he said, can allow governments to bury, or at least divert attention from, potentially unpopular measures within it. Tamping down leaks also prevented lobbying within the government by departments looking for more money, he added.

The decline in budget secrecy may also reflect the diminished economic importance of the budget itself. When Canada’s economy was more isolated and less driven by global forces, government tax and spending changes had more profound effects on it. So much so that during the 1960s, the accounting office in Windsor, Ontario, where my father was a partner annually installed a Telex machine to immediately, if noisily, spew out the text of the budget.

“If you go back to St. Laurent and further in the past, the budget was more about affecting the economy,” Professor Malloy said. “But over time, the budget became storytelling. It’s less about how we’re going to shape the economy now. It’s more about what the government is doing in general.”

Trans Canada

My colleague Norimitsu Onishi traveled to Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, to write about how African immigrants have revived a remote mining community. Nasuna Stuart-Ulin, a photographer based in Montreal, also vividly captured the scene.

This week, the commission on foreign interference in elections released details from a top-secret intelligence report that warned about continuing attempts by the Chinese government to meddle in specific Canadian government races in 2021. And Han Dong, a former Liberal member of Parliament, testified that high school students from China were transported by bus to vote for him.

Jacob Flickinger, a 33-year-old dual citizen of the United States and Canada, was one of seven World Central Kitchen workers who were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

Eleanor Collins, who was widely regarded as Canada’s “first lady of jazz” during the 1950s and was known for her mastery of the standards as well as her commanding performances on radio, early television specials and in nightclubs around Vancouver, has died. She was 104.

Joe Flaherty, an actor who played a variety of characters on “SCTV” including Guy Caballero, the sleazy president of the station; Sammy Maudlin, an unctuous late-night talk-show host; and Count Floyd, a host of “Monster Chiller Horror Theater,” has died. He was 82.

Michael and Gerald Shvartsman, two Canadian brothers, have each pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in a Trump Media insider-trading scheme .

The On Location feature in Real Estate looked into the renovation of two saltbox houses in Salvage, Newfoundland.

Researchers at Wilfrid Laurier University have found that garter snakes can distinguish themselves from others, using not sight but scent.

Eric Asimov, the chief wine critic of The New York Times, singled out Dear Margaret, a French Canadian restaurant, for having one of the best wine lists in Chicago .

Michael Roston, a senior editor on the Health and Science desk, explained how he would be coordinating Vjosa Isai, me and 28 other journalists to cover the total solar eclipse that will travel from Mexico through the United States and then Eastern Canada on Monday. The Times has also prepared a guide to eclipse viewing .

A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported about Canada for The New York Times for two decades. Follow him on Bluesky at @ianausten.bsky.social .

How are we doing? We’re eager to have your thoughts about this newsletter and events in Canada in general. Please send them to [email protected] .

Like this email? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up here .

Ian Austen reports on Canada for The Times based in Ottawa. He covers politics, culture and the people of Canada and has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at [email protected] . More about Ian Austen

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Mayor Bowser Presents Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Proposal, A Fair Shot: Strategic Investments and Shared Sacrifice

(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser delivered her Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Budget and Financial Plan, A Fair Shot: Strategic Investments and Shared Sacrifice, to the Council of the District of Columbia as part of the District’s annual budget process. The FY25 budget represents strategic investments and shared sacrifices to address a confluence of post-COVID factors and drive economic growth.

“Never bet against Washington, DC. We are a resilient city. We never give up. We know how to make a strong comeback. But our wins are also not accidental. We’re smart, creative, and strategic. That is the spirit of my fiscal 2025 budget. This is a smart budget, it’s a responsible budget, but most important, this is a budget that will keep DC the best city in the world,” said Mayor Bowser. “I know that by continuing to work together – by striking the right balance between investments and sacrifice and by prioritizing investments that will kick off more revenues for the District – we will get back to the economic growth levels that have fueled the renaissance of modern Washington.”  

The FY25 budget and financial plan is made up of $21 billion in operating funds and $11.8 billion in capital improvement funds. The post-COVID economic factors include: slower revenue growth; the end of federal stimulus funding; significantly higher operating costs, including an additional $200 million in WMATA funding; and the impacts of the remote work environment. The District’s budget is also unique because DC Government is required to have a balanced financial plan across both the current fiscal year and the upcoming four years of the financial plan. The result of these factors is a widening gap across the financial plan that requires prudent investments now to change the trajectory of our out-year revenue estimates. 

Mayor Bowser shared her guiding principles for creating the budget:

• Maintaining and enhancing core services and preserve investments that protect health and safety.
• Prioritizing programs with track records of success that advance equity.
• Resetting spending to align with resources for long-term fiscal stability and focus new spending on catalytic investments, with a focus on public safety, education, and Downtown.

Below are highlights of investments and initiatives in Mayor Bowser’s FY25 budget proposal.

Downtown Prior Investments We’re Maintaining

• $5 million for DMPED’s Vitality Fund, which provides grants to businesses in high-growth sectors like technology and life sciences to encourage them to locate in or remain Downtown
• $50 million in incentives for building owners to convert underutilized Downtown office space into housing for DC residents
• $68 million for major streetscape initiatives, including the I Street Greenway, a new green boulevard connecting Farragut Square and McPherson Square; the Dupont Crown Park deck over of Connecticut Avenue north of Dupont Circle; and completion of the Pennsylvania Avenue NW streetscape between 17th Street and Washington Circle

New Investments for FY 2025

• $515 million for the Chinatown Revitalization Fund to support sports arena renovations, streetscape improvements, public space activations, and/or expanded green space
• $64 million to build additional permanent supportive housing and congregate shelter space on the site with the existing Federal City Shelter
• $32 million in federal tourism grants and marketing, supporting activities for families and workforce development for the hospitality and tourism industries
• $26 million to implement the Business and Entrepreneurship Support to Thrive (BEST) Act that will streamline business licensing
• $13 million to support a new program that will freeze in place property taxes for conversions of office buildings into new uses Downtown
• $5.25 million to support DC’s hosting of World Pride in 2025
• $5 million to create a new Downtown Arts Hub, a flexible, multi-use space for theatre, dance, music, and visual arts organizations
• $3 million for DMPED’s Festival Fund, to continue making it easier for organizations to host festivals and to support the attraction of art fairs and go-go music festivals Downtown
• $2.6 million to activate the Gallery Place Festival Plaza, Dupont Crown Park, and I Street Greenway
• $2.5 million to support pop-up and short-term retail in vacant commercial spaces
• $1 million to establish a comprehensive transportation vision for Downtown
• $564,000 to host more cultural events and programs at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library and serve more residents and tourists in Downtown DC
• $500,000 for new planning initiatives to identify public space improvements to the Penn West and Downtown West/Golden Triangle neighborhoods in Downtown
• $300,000 for ongoing operation of the new Chinatown Safe Commercial Corridor Hub providing added public safety and human services agency presence
• $300,000 to support the installation of murals that celebrate the history and culture of the Gallery Place/Chinatown neighborhood
• $250,000 to market Penn Quarter as an arts, culture, and entertainment district

Education Prior Investments We’re Maintaining

• $7 million to maintain ARPA-level funding for DC School Connect which provides safe transportation to more than 350 students and boosts school attendance
• $6.8 million to maintain ARPA-level funding for support of out-of-school time educational and enrichment programs for children and youth
• $4.8 million to maintain ARPA-level funding for High Impact Tutoring supports for our most vulnerable learners
• $4.3 million to maintain ARPA-level funding for career and technical education and internship opportunities for the District’s youth, including investments in the District’s first Advanced Technical Center in Ward 5
• $1.9 million to maintain funding for nutritional and food curriculum supports at DC Public Schools
• $1.8 million to continue collecting data on the classes offered at schools to ensure students have access to rigorous coursework
• $1.7 million to maintain a scholarship program at the University of the District of Columbia for residents who seek a career pathway within behavioral health
• $1 million in sustained support of community-based organizations and schools who provide workforce preparation and training to adults in the District
• $700,000 to maintain ARPA-level funding for the District’s dual enrollment program, empowering youth in high school to earn college credit 
• $669,000 to maintain ARPA-level funding for commitment to students with special education needs and their families through the Special Education Hub, which provides residents with tools, information, and one-on-one support
• $668,000 to continue support for the Office of Education through Employment, which provides key insights into how education and workforce investments are impacting residents and their families
• $375,000 to maintain investments in “nudge technology” to address chronic absenteeism at the District’s public schools
• $300,000 to maintain ARPA-level funding for virtual course offerings for more than 200 high school students across the District
• $2.2 billion to support full modernization of 33 schools across the District 
• $349 million to support a 12.4-percent increase to the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula (UPSFF)
• $255 million to support small capital improvements to DC Public Schools including HVAC replacement, roof repairs, field replacements, and other important upgrades
• $52 million for facility renovations and upgrades at the University of the District of Columbia to ensure facilities are kept in a state of good repair
• $42 million to improve the safety and security of DC Public Schools through enhanced lighting, fencing, and access control
• $17 million to expand the Advanced Technical Center at Penn Center to include a healthcare employer partnership, providing career and technical education to the District’s students and healthcare services to residents, and $600,000 to support the opening of a new Advanced Technical Center at the Whitman-Walker Max Robinson Center in Ward 8
• $10.2 million to bring greater transparency into students’ PK-12 education and workforce data and outcomes
• $7.5 million to support more efficient ways to transport eligible special education students to school
• $5 million to upgrade the audio-visual equipment in auditoriums and other large spaces in schools 
• $2 million to implement high quality instructional materials for teachers based on recommendations from the literacy task force
• $1.1 million for additional academic advisors to support student success and outcomes at the University of the District of Columbia
• $581,000 to expand access to career and technical education programming in Ward 8
• $550,000 to continue investments in expanding the teacher pipeline in the District by establishing a teacher apprenticeship program and enrolling 50-100 residents in the first year
• $500,000 to support educator wellness grants to ensure teachers are well supported in the classroom and can bring their best selves to work

Public Safety Prior Investments We’re Maintaining

• $9.7 million to maintain ARPA-level funding for Safe Passage to support students getting to and from school safely and expand coverage through roving teams in neighborhoods experiencing short-term increases in crime
• $21 million to fund increased costs of the Department of Corrections health care contract due to increased population
• $11.7 million to maintain ARPA-level funding and accommodate increased needs for SAVRAA and Victim Services
• $8.9 million to maintain ARPA-level funding for expanded Violence Interrupters
• $4.5 million to maintain mandated academic programs for the increased number of Department of Corrections residents with individualized education plans
• $3.5 million to maintain ARPA-level funding for the Pathways Program helping participants gain job training programming and assisting them in navigating available services
• $2.1 million to restore funding for 12 testing and support staff in the Public Health Lab following expiration of federal grants
• $637,000 to maintain funding to support returning citizens as peer navigators so they can help others navigate available resources and opportunities
• $2.3 million to expand Safe Commercial Corridors and Private Security Camera Incentives
• $1.8 million to support the implementation of Secure DC changes to pre-trial detention
• $322,000 to increase private security camera incentives for businesses
• $160,000 to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) to stand up a new diversion task force
• $13 million to increase the Metropolitan Police Department’s crime-fighting capabilities by nearly tripling the department’s CCTV camera footprint and replacing end-of-life license plate readers
• $8.7 million to create 40 new community safety officers and fund new civilian positions in the Metropolitan Police Department to free up 46 sworn officers for more critical crime-fighting tasks
• $7 million to increase capacity to serve 500 additional youth through PASS and 180 youth through ACE
• $463 million to build a new correctional treatment facility annex, which will provide a secure environment for evidence-based practices that support residents’ safe return to the community and reduce recidivism
• $157 million to purchase new ambulances, ladder trucks, a new fire boat, and other critical lifesaving apparatus 
• $4.8 million to fund procurement of critical life-saving equipment for fire and emergency medical response personnel
• $4.8 million to plan and design a new state-of-the-art joint training facility for FEMS and MPD
• $3.4 million to procure and maintain important crime-fighting technology, including upgraded software to support license plate reader technology
• $3.2 million to expand processing capacity for fingerprint, drug, and DNA sample testing
• $3.1 million to hire additional staff at the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services to provide supervision and positive engagement with youth residents and to evaluate and improve DYRS processes and programming
• $1 million to hire additional 911 call takers and dispatchers at the Office of Unified Communications
• $841,000 to continue the development of the District’s premiere paramedic school, which will train up to 70 local paramedics per year
• $400,000 to fund hiring, retention, and wellness programs for correctional officers to provide sufficient staffing for the increased resident population at the Department of Corrections
• $358,000 to fund hiring and retention incentives for forensic scientists and analysts that increase the District’s capacity to respond to crime scenes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 

Recreation & Libraries Prior Investments We’re Maintaining

• $129 million to modernize and construct recreation and community centers, including $13 million for Emery Heights, $14.5 million for Fort Davis, $7.5 million for Crummell, $17 million for Randall, $17 million for Harry Thomas, $3 million for Marvin Gaye, $11.9 million for Douglas, $12.4 million for Langdon, $20 million for River Terrace, and an additional $8 million for Fort Lincoln to support space for childcare facility seats
• $87 million to modernize and renovate our public libraries, including $25 million for the Shepherd Park Library, $24.7 million for Rosedale, $20.5 million for a new Northwest Library, $6 million for Chevy Chase, and $5.5 million to complete Parklands-Turner;
• $1.1 million to maintain ARPA-level funding to bring more recreation offerings and opportunities to neighborhoods without recreation facilities
• $576,000 to maintain ARPA-level funding for Late-Night Hype and Late-Night Drip at recreation facilities across the District, providing safe spaces for youth and children
• $6 million for a playground equipment blitz, to include refreshes at Hobart Twins, Langdon, Lovejoy, Westminster, and North Michigan
• $5 million for preventative maintenance to ensure DC public libraries are well-maintained
• $2.6 million for an athletic field and basketball court blitz, to include refreshes at the Marvin Gaye Rec Center athletic field, Joy Evans Therapeutic Rec Center basketball court, Ely Place basketball courts, and Fort Stanton football field
• $2.25 million to replace synthetic turf at Joe Cole playground, Guy Mason playground, and Riggs LaSalle
• $2.1 million to modernize technology infrastructure across the DC Public Library system, ensuring residents have continued access to online information sources
• $1.7 million for a playground surface blitz, to include refreshes at Guy Mason, Raymond, Ft. Stevens, Newark, Hamilton, Benning Stoddert, and Mitchell Park
• $1.25 million to renovate the KC Lewis Playground
• $1 million for a tennis court blitz, including refreshes at Harry Thomas Recreation Center, Kennedy Recreation Center, Ely Place, Fort Davis, and Fort Reno
• $886,000 to address necessary building and children’s slide upgrades at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
• $825,000 in FY 2024 to replace the windows at Anacostia Library
• $750,000 in FY 2024 to deliver a boxing annex at the Ferebee Hope Recreation Center, as promised to the community
• $663,000 for enhanced security and mental health services throughout the DC Public Library system, including additional special police officers and mental health workers
• $500,000 for a fencing and gate blitz to replace and repair fences and gates at DPR facilities
• $500,000 to begin planning and design efforts for a new state-of-the-art, multi-level sports complex at or near RFK stadium campus

Housing & Economic Development Prior Investments We’re Maintaining

• $59 million contribution to the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF), providing financing for developers to create new affordable housing units in the District
• $85 million to support continued infrastructure development at the St. Elizabeths, Hill East, and Fletcher Johnson sites
• $7 million to continue Great Streets, transforming emerging commercial corridors into thriving and inviting neighborhood centers
• $2.5 million to maintain ARPA-level funding for the Commercial Property Acquisition Fund, providing down payment, closing cost, and other assistance to help equity impact enterprises buy commercial property
• $4.2 million to help low-income homeowners make critical upgrades to their homes
• $4 million to help DC government employees become first time homeowners
• $1 million to maintain the Heirs Property Legal Services, to assist multi-generational families in maintaining their family property after the death of the original homeowner
• $1 million to maintain funding for the Strong Families, Strong Futures pilot, providing cash assistance to low-income mothers in Wards 5,7, and 8
• $101 million to rehabilitate and modernize public housing units managed by the DC Housing Authority
• $66 million to complete DMPED’s New Communities Initiative at Bruce Monroe and Park Morton, including 117 public housing replacement units
• $28 million for Home Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP), to help first-time homebuyers with down payment and closing cost assistance
• $10 million to support planning and initial development of the Poplar Point site
• $4.8 million for project-based vouchers to support new affordable housing units coming online

Transportation & Environment Prior Investments We’re Maintaining

• $16 million to continue the Kids Ride Free and Adult Learners’ Transit Subsidy programs
• $12 million to maintain new overnight Metrobus service launched in 2023
• $5 million to maintain ARPA-level funding for the District’s Public Works Employment Program, a job-training program that will also fill critical gaps in the DPW’s workforce and provide a pathway to permanent employment
• $3 million to continue the District’s curbside composting program, providing at-home organic waste pickup for 9,000 households
• $2 million in maintained investments at the Department of Buildings to reduce permit issuance timelines and strengthen overall customer experience 
• $900,000 for installation of floodproofing upgrades for homes in vulnerable floodplains, especially in Wards 7 and 8 
• $217 million in additional funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to support Metrorail and Metrobus service levels
• $3 million to support the operating and maintenance costs of Capital Bikeshare’s continued growth, including more stations, e-bikes, and traditional bikes
• $1 million to update IT systems at the headquarters of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to avoid critical service interruptions
• $750,000 to help restaurants comply with forthcoming Streatery design regulations by providing free consulting services and construction materials
• $620,000 to explore new “microtransit” services in select areas affected by proposed changes in Circulator service

Major Capital Investments

• $289 million to reconstruct the H Street Bridge, providing needed repairs to the bridge and enabling the future redevelopment of Union Station
• $210 million in local and federal funds to support the planned extension of the DC Streetcar to Benning Road, including replacement of the Lorraine Whitlock bridge, improvements to the interchange of Benning Road and I-295, and streetscape improvements in the corridor, including to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety
• $206 million to plan or implement the redesign of 14 road segments to improve safety for drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists, focusing on segments with the highest rates of crashes and injuries
• $193 million for paving and maintenance of local streets to maintain a state of good repair
• $115 million for maintenance of the existing sidewalk network and construction of new sidewalks in areas with gaps
• $109 million for the Bus Priority Program, deploying strategies to improve bus speeds and on-time reliability, including bus-only lanes, priority traffic signal installations, bus bulb-outs, and more
• $98 million for rehabilitation of alleys throughout the District
• $77 million to build or rehabilitate seven multi-use walking and biking trails, including multiple new connecting segments on the Anacostia River Trail, another portion of the Metropolitan Branch Trail, and rehabilitation of the Suitland Parkway Trail
• $56 million for construction, maintenance, and hardening of quick-build traffic calming and safety interventions
• $54 million to replace street trees and continually replenish and expand the city’s tree canopy
• $50 million for a third entrance at the NoMa-Gallaudet Metro Station to improve pedestrian access to Union Market and areas east of the station
• $47 million for remediation of hazardous materials in the Anacostia River to make the waterway safe for swimming, fishing, and recreation
• $47 million for the 11th Street Bridge Park, a transformative pedestrian bridge and park that will connect the Anacostia and Fairlawn neighborhoods with Capitol Hill and Navy Yard
• $44 million for design and construction of traffic safety improvements near 75 schools
• $32 million to expand the District’s network of protected bike lanes and make pedestrian safety improvements
• $30 million for the Traffic Safety Inputs program to install traffic safety interventions in response to community requests
• $16 million in federal funds to conduct stream restoration and stormwater management projects
• $11 million to deliver the new pedestrian and bicyclist bridge connecting the Anacostia Metro Station to Barry Farm
• $10 million for Capital Bikeshare to build additional stations, replace stations at the end of their useful life, and to refresh and expand the fleet of traditional bikes and e-bikes
• $1 million to continue planning and design for future dredging of the Anacostia River to expand boating and other recreational opportunities 

Health & Human Services Prior Investments We’re Maintaining

• $30 million to support rental assistance through the Family Re-Housing Stabilization Program (FRSP) for families at imminent risk of homelessness
• $18.9 million to continue ARPA-level funding for the Career Mobility Action Plan (Career MAP) program, which will help 500 District families avoid losing public assistance benefits as their careers advance and incomes rise
• $13 million to continue providing long-term housing and intensive case management to individuals and families who are chronically homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless
• $7 million to continue ARPA-level funding for 24/7 operations at six homeless shelters in the District
• $4.8 million to continue ARPA-level funding for diversion of some 911 calls for residents experiencing mental health distress to the Department of Behavioral Health’s Community Response Team and Access HelpLine
• $4 million to continue ARPA-level funding for transitional housing and drop-in centers that provide meals, showers, shelter, and case management services to youth experiencing homelessness 
• $2.3 million to continue residential support to individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities
• $600,000 to provide workforce development services for transgender and gender non-conforming residents who are experiencing homelessness and housing instability
• $600,000 to continue the substance abuse pilot and behavioral targeted outreach pilot in Wards 1, 5, and 7
• $23 million for renovations to DHS’s Naylor Road, V Street, Emery, and Madison shelters, as well as various small-scale improvements at other shelters in the system
• $39 million in funding for the Office of Migrant Services to ensure migrants arriving in the District are treated humanely and have the resources they need to reach their destination or resettle
• $22.5 million to build a new city-owned animal shelter replacing the current shelter facility on New York Avenue
• $21.3 million to create a Behavioral Health Alliance benefit that will provide funding for DC residents who do not qualify for Medicaid. This coordination with the Department of Health Care Finance will provide District residents who do not qualify for Medicaid with complete healthcare benefits.
• $12 million to support the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), supporting District residents who are facing housing emergencies and evictions
• $20 million to fund required cost-of-living adjustments for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
• $13 million for operating costs for two new non-congregate homeless shelter facilities—The Aston and 25 E Street—that will soon come online
• $6.8 million to ensure compliance with a new federal mandate requiring the District to provide 12-month continuous eligibility for children under the age of 19 in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
• $6.3 million to support the rising cost of complete care for children in foster care and their associated placements in Family Based Settings and Congregate Care Settings
• $750,000 to support the expansion of the Safe at Home program providing in-home adaptions for seniors to reduce the risk of falls
• $450,000 to support the Dementia Navigators program supporting older adults with dementia by linking them to community resources, providing education, and managing behavioral symptoms
• $350,000 to increase funding for Senior Villages, neighborhood-based nonprofit organizations that help seniors find useful community resources so they can continue to live safely, comfortably, and actively in their homes
• $300,000 to establish a pilot program for emergency childcare needs for birthing parents

Government Operations New Investments for FY 2025

• $48 million to cover increases in the District’s rising costs related to leased office space, building security, and utilities, especially electricity
• $29 million to support critical infrastructure and roof replacements at DC government facilities
• $22 million to support building needed improvements at the Marion S. Barry, Jr. building and John A. Wilson government buildings
• $17 million in capital funding to further protect against cybersecurity threats by replacing outdated network hardware and security applications across District government
• $6.8 million to support energy retrofits at DC government facilities 
• $1.7 million for the new Office of Artificial Intelligence, launched in FY 2024 and housed at OCTO, which is responsible for developing an AI strategy for District government as well as tools for agencies to use to make the most of available AI technology
• $1.5 million to continue the development and support the ongoing operations of the new DC Business Portal, which streamlines various licensing processes for District businesses
• $575,000 to add new staff and contractual capacity for the design and rollout of DC.gov 2.0, a redesigned website for District government 

Shared Sacrifices To ensure we are able to invest in our comeback and remain fiscally prudent, we need to jointly contribute to filling gaps, across the government and across the community, to move forward, together.

In FY25, DC Government closed $500 million, more than half of the budget gap, through:

• Eliminating positions, rightsizing spending, and focusing on moving forward with programs we know are working. 
• Cutting duplicative or lower-performing programs and resisting starting new programs that would only add to longer-term financial pressures. 
• Looking across government for savings by eliminating mobile devices and phone lines no longer in use, rebalancing the capital portfolio, maximizing federal reimbursements, and consolidating licenses and software purchases. 

To close the remainder of the gap in FY25, or approximately $300 million, the budget identifies new revenues that will be shared across the community:

• Businesses will help through an adjustment to the Paid Family Leave tax back to fiscal 2021 levels to support DC’s human services safety net.
• And guests will help through a small 911 fee on hotel room stays to support increased public safety hiring.

If, after FY25, there is still a gap to close, then beginning in FY26, consumers will help through a modest sales tax increase to support increased Metro costs.

See the full budget presentation at budget.dc.gov .   

Mayor Bowser X:  @MayorBowser Mayor Bowser Instagram:  @Mayor_Bowser Mayor Bowser Facebook:  facebook.com/MayorMurielBowser Mayor Bowser YouTube:  https://www.bit.ly/eomvideos

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Budget 2024 Full Speech: Read full text of FM Nirmala Sitharaman speech here

Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget.

The Indian economy has witnessed profound positive transformation in the last ten years. The people of India are looking ahead to the future with hope and optimism.

With the blessings of the people, when our Government under the visionary and dynamic leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, the country was facing enormous challenges. With ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ as its ‘mantra’, the Government overcame those challenges in right earnest. Structural reforms were undertaken. Pro-people programmes were formulated and implemented promptly. Conditions were created for more opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship. The economy got a new vigour. The fruits of development started reaching the people at scale. The country got a new sense of purpose and hope. Naturally, the people blessed the Government with a bigger mandate.

In the second term, our Government under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister doubled down on its responsibilities to build a prosperous country with comprehensive development of all people and all regions. Our Government strengthened its ‘mantra’ to ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, and Sabka Vishwas’. Our development philosophy covered all elements of inclusivity, namely, social inclusivity through coverage of all strata of the society, and geographical inclusivity through development of all regions of the country.

With the ‘whole of nation’ approach of ‘Sabka Prayas’, the country overcame the challenge of a once-in-a-century pandemic, took long strides towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, committed to ‘Panch Pran’, and laid solid foundations for the ‘Amrit Kaal’. As a result, our young country has high aspirations, pride in its present, and hope and confidence for a bright future. We expect that our Government, based on its stupendous work, will be blessed again by the people with a resounding mandate.

Inclusive Development and Growth

Our humane and inclusive approach to development is a marked and deliberate departure from the earlier approach of ‘provisioning up-to-village level’. Development programmes, in the last ten years, have targeted each and every household and individual, through ‘housing for all’, ‘har ghar jal’, electricity for all, cooking gas for all, bank accounts and financial services for all, in record time.

The worries about food have been eliminated through free ration for 80 crore people. Minimum support prices for the produce of ‘Annadata’ are periodically increased appropriately. These and the provision of basic necessities have enhanced real income in the rural areas. Their economic needs could be addressed, thus spurring growth and generating jobs.

Social Justice

Our Government is working with an approach to development that is all-round, all-pervasive and all-inclusive (सर्वांगीण, सर्वस्पर्शी और सर्वसमावेशी). It covers all castes and people at all levels. We are working to make India a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047. For achieving that goal, we need to improve people’s capability and empower them.

Previously, social justice was mostly a political slogan. For our Government, social justice is an effective and necessary governance model. The saturation approach of covering all eligible people is the true and comprehensive achievement of social justice. This is secularism in action, reduces corruption, and prevents nepotism (भाई-भतीजावाद). There is transparency and assurance that benefits are delivered to all eligible people. The resources are distributed fairly. All, regardless of their social standing, get access to opportunities. We are addressing systemic inequalities that had plagued our society. We focus on outcomes and not on outlays so that the socio-economic transformation is achieved.

As our Prime Minister firmly believes, we need to focus on four major castes. They are, ‘Garib’ (Poor), ‘Mahilayen’ (Women), ‘Yuva’ (Youth) and ‘Annadata’ (Farmer). Their needs, their aspirations, and their welfare are our highest priority. The country progresses, when they progress. All four require and receive government support in their quest to better their lives. Their empowerment and well-being will drive the country forward.

Garib Kalyan, Desh ka Kalyan

We believe in empowering the poor. The earlier approach of tackling poverty through entitlements had resulted in very modest outcomes. When the poor become empowered partners in the development process, government’s power to assist them also increases manifold. With the pursuit of ‘Sabka ka Saath’ in these 10 years, the Government has assisted 25 crore people to get freedom from multi-dimensional poverty. Our Government’s efforts are now getting synergized with energy and passion of such empowered people. This is truly elevating them from poverty.

‘Direct Benefit Transfer’ of ` 34 lakh crore from the Government using PM-Jan Dhan accounts has led to savings of 
` 2.7 lakh crore for the Government. This has been realized through avoidance of leakages prevalent earlier. The savings have helped in providing more funds for ‘Garib Kalyan’.

PM-SVANidhi has provided credit assistance to 78 lakh street vendors. From that total, 2.3 lakh have received credit for the third time.

PM-JANMAN Yojana reaches out to the particularly vulnerable tribal groups, who have remained outside the realm of development so far. PM-Vishwakarma Yojana provides end-to-end support to artisans and craftspeople engaged in 18 trades. The schemes for empowerment of Divyangs and Transgender persons reflect firm resolve of our Government to leave no one behind.

Welfare of Annadata

Farmers are our ‘Annadata’. Every year, under PM-KISAN SAMMAN Yojana, direct financial assistance is provided to 
11.8 crore farmers, including marginal and small farmers. Crop insurance is given to 4 crore farmers under PM Fasal Bima Yojana. These, besides several other programmes, are assisting ‘Annadata’ in producing food for the country and the world.

Electronic National Agriculture Market has integrated 
1361 mandis, and is providing services to 1.8 crore farmers with trading volume of ` 3 lakh crore.

The sector is poised for inclusive, balanced, higher growth and productivity. These are facilitated from farmer-centric policies, income support, coverage of risks through price and insurance support, promotion of technologies and innovations through start-ups.

Empowering Amrit Peedhi, the Yuva

Our prosperity depends on adequately equipping and empowering the youth. The National Education Policy 2020 is ushering in transformational reforms. PM ScHools for Rising India (PM SHRI) are delivering quality teaching, and nurturing holistic and well-rounded individuals.

The Skill India Mission has trained 1.4 crore youth, upskilled and reskilled 54 lakh youth, and established 3000 new ITIs. A large number of new institutions of higher learning, namely 7 IITs, 16 IIITs, 7 IIMs, 15 AIIMS and 390 universities have been set up.

PM Mudra Yojana has sanctioned 43 crore loans aggregating to ` 22.5 lakh crore for entrepreneurial aspirations of our youth. Besides that, Fund of Funds, Start Up India, and Start Up Credit Guarantee schemes are assisting our youth. They are also becoming ‘rozgardata’.

The country is proud of our youth scaling new heights in sports. The highest ever medal tally in Asian Games and Asian Para Games in 2023 reflects a high confidence level. Chess prodigy and our Number-One ranked player Praggnanandhaa put up a stiff fight against the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsson in 2023. Today, India has over 80 chess grandmasters compared to little over 20 in 2010.

Momentum for Nari Shakti

The empowerment of women through entrepreneurship, ease of living, and dignity for them has gained momentum in these ten years.

Thirty crore Mudra Yojana loans have been given to women entrepreneurs. Female enrolment in higher education has gone up by twenty-eight per cent in ten years. In STEM courses, girls and women constitute forty-three per cent of enrolment – one of the highest in the world. All these measures are getting reflected in the increasing participation of women in workforce.

Making ‘Triple Talaq’ illegal, reservation of one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State legislative assemblies, and giving over seventy per cent houses under PM Awas Yojana in rural areas to women as sole or joint owners have enhanced their dignity.

Exemplary Track Record of Governance, Development and Performance (GDP)

Besides delivering on high growth in terms of Gross Domestic Product, the Government is equally focused on a more comprehensive ‘GDP’, i.e., ’Governance, Development and Performance’.

Our Government has provided transparent, accountable, people-centric and prompt trust-based administration with ‘citizen-first’ and ‘minimum government, maximum governance’ approach.

The impact of all-round development is discernible in all sectors. There is macro-economic stability, including in the external sector. Investments are robust. The economy is doing well.

People are living better and earning better, with even greater aspirations for the future. Average real income of the people has increased by fifty per cent. Inflation is moderate. People are getting empowered, equipped and enabled to pursue their aspirations. There is effective and timely delivery of programmes and of large projects.

Economic Management

The multipronged economic management over the past ten years has complemented people-centric inclusive development. Following are some of the major elements.

All forms of infrastructure, physical, digital or social, are being built in record time.

All parts of the country are becoming active participants in economic growth.

Digital Public Infrastructure, a new ‘factor of production’ in the 21st century, is instrumental in formalization of the economy.

Goods and Services Tax has enabled ‘One Nation, One Market, One Tax’. Tax reforms have led to deepening and widening of tax base.

Strengthening of the financial sector has helped in making savings, credit and investments more efficient.

GIFT IFSC and the unified regulatory authority, IFSCA are creating a robust gateway for global capital and financial services for the economy.

Proactive inflation management has helped keep inflation within the policy band.

Global Context

Geopolitically, global affairs are becoming more complex and challenging with wars and conflicts. Globalization is being redefined with reshoring and friend-shoring, disruption and fragmentation of supply chains, and competition for critical minerals and technologies. A new world order is emerging after the Covid pandemic.

India assumed G20 Presidency during very difficult times for the world. The global economy was going through high inflation, high interest rates, low growth, very high public debt, low trade growth, and climate challenges. The pandemic had led to a crisis of food, fertilizer, fuel and finances for the world, while India successfully navigated its way. The country showed the way forward and built consensus on solutions for those global problems.

The recently announced India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor is a strategic and economic game changer for India and others. In the words of Hon’ble Prime Minister, the corridor “will become the basis of world trade for hundreds of years to come, and history will remember that this corridor was initiated on Indian soil".

Vision for ‘Viksit Bharat’

Our vision for ‘Viksit Bharat’ is that of “Prosperous Bharat in harmony with nature, with modern infrastructure, and providing opportunities for all citizens and all regions to reach their potential".

With confidence arising from strong and exemplary track-record of performance and progress earning ‘Sabka Vishwas’, the next five years will be years of unprecedented development, and golden moments to realize the dream of developed India @ 2047. The trinity of demography, democracy and diversity backed by ‘Sabka Prayas’ has the potential to fulfill aspirations of every Indian.

As Hon’ble Prime Minister in his Independence Day address to the nation mentioned, “There is no dearth of opportunities; as many opportunities as we want. The country is capable of creating more opportunities. Sky’s the limit".

Strategy for ‘Amrit Kaal’

Our Government will adopt economic policies that foster and sustain growth, facilitate inclusive and sustainable development, improve productivity, create opportunities for all, help them enhance their capabilities, and contribute to generation of resources to power investments and fulfil aspirations.

Guided by the principle ‘Reform, Perform, and Transform’, the Government will take up next generation reforms, and build consensus with the states and stakeholders for effective implementation.

It is an important policy priority for our Government to ensure timely and adequate finances, relevant technologies and appropriate training for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) to grow and also compete globally. Orienting the regulatory environment to facilitate their growth will be an important element of this policy mix.

Aligning with the ‘Panchamrit’ goals, our Government will facilitate sustaining high and more resource-efficient economic growth. This will work towards energy security in terms of availability, accessibility and affordability.

For meeting the investment needs our Government will prepare the financial sector in terms of size, capacity, skills and regulatory framework.

Aspirational Districts Programme

Our Government stands ready to assist the states in faster development of aspirational districts and blocks, including generation of ample economic opportunities.

Development of the East

Our Government will pay utmost attention to make the eastern region and its people a powerful driver of India’s growth.

PM Awas Yojana (Grameen)

Despite the challenges due to COVID, implementation of PM Awas Yojana (Grameen) continued and we are close to achieving the target of three crore houses. Two crore more houses will be taken up in the next five years to meet the requirement arising from increase in the number of families.

Rooftop solarization and muft bijli

Through rooftop solarization, one crore households will be enabled to obtain up to 300 units free electricity every month. This scheme follows the resolve of Hon’ble Prime Minister on the historic day of consecration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Following benefits are expected.

Savings up to fifteen to eighteen thousand rupees annually for households from free solar electricity and selling the surplus to the distribution companies; Charging of electric vehicles; Entrepreneurship opportunities for a large number of vendors for supply and installation; Employment opportunities for the youth with technical skills in manufacturing, installation and maintenance;

Housing for middle class

Our Government will launch a scheme to help deserving sections of the middle class “living in rented houses, or slums, or chawls and unauthorized colonies" to buy or build their own houses.

Medical Colleges

Several youth are ambitious to get qualified as doctors. They aim to serve our people through improved healthcare services. Our Government plans to set up more medical colleges by utilizing the existing hospital infrastructure under various departments. A committee for this purpose will be set-up to examine the issues and make relevant recommendations.

Cervical Cancer Vaccination

Our Government will encourage vaccination for girls in age group of 9 to 14 years for prevention of cervical cancer.

Maternal and child health care

Various schemes for maternal and child care will be brought under one comprehensive programme for synergy in implementation. Upgradation of anganwadi centres under “Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0" will be expedited for improved nutrition delivery, early childhood care and development.

The newly designed U-WIN platform for managing immunization and intensified efforts of Mission Indradhanush will be rolled out expeditiously throughout the country.

Ayushman Bharat

Healthcare cover under Ayushman Bharat scheme will be extended to all ASHA workers, Anganwadi Workers and Helpers.

Agriculture and food processing

The efforts for value addition in agricultural sector and boosting farmers’ income will be stepped up. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has benefitted 38 lakh farmers and generated 10 lakh employment. Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Yojana has assisted 2.4 lakh SHGs and sixty thousand individuals with credit linkages. Other schemes are complementing the efforts for reducing post-harvest losses, and improving productivity and incomes.

For ensuring faster growth of the sector, our Government will further promote private and public investment in
post-harvest activities including aggregation, modern storage, efficient supply chains, primary and secondary processing and marketing and branding.

After the successful adoption of Nano Urea, application of Nano DAP on various crops will be expanded in all agro-climatic zones.

Atmanirbhar Oil Seeds Abhiyan

Building on the initiative announced in 2022, a strategy will be formulated to achieve ‘atmanirbharta’ for oil seeds such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower. This will cover research for high-yielding varieties, widespread adoption of modern farming techniques, market linkages, procurement, value addition, and crop insurance.

Dairy Development

A comprehensive programme for supporting dairy farmers will be formulated. Efforts are already on to control foot and mouth disease. India is the world’s largest milk producer but with low productivity of milch-animals. The programme will be built on the success of existing schemes such Rashtriya Gokul Mission, National Livestock Mission, and Infrastructure Development Funds for dairy processing and animal husbandry.

Matsya Sampada

It was our Government which set up a separate Department for Fisheries realizing the importance of assisting fishermen. This has resulted in doubling of both inland and aquaculture production. Seafood export since 2013-14 has also doubled. Implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) will be stepped up to enhance aquaculture productivity from existing 3 to
5 tons per hectare, double exports to ` 1 lakh crore and generate 55 lakh employment opportunities in near future.

Five integrated aquaparks will be setup.

Lakhpati didi.

Eighty-three lakh SHGs with nine crore women are transforming rural socio-economic landscape with empowerment and self-reliance. Their success has assisted nearly one crore women to become Lakhpati Didi already. They are an inspiration to others. Their achievements will be recognized through honouring them. Buoyed by the success, it has been decided to enhance the target for Lakhpati Didi from 
2 crore to 3 crore.

Technological Changes

New age technologies and data are changing the lives of people and businesses. They are also enabling new economic opportunities and facilitating provision of high-quality services at affordable prices for all, including those at ‘bottom of the pyramid’. Opportunities for India at the global level are expanding. India is showing solutions through innovation and entrepreneurship of its people.

Research and Innovation for catalyzing growth, employment and development

Prime Minister Shastri gave the slogan of “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan". Prime Minister Vajpayee made that “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Vigyan". Prime Minister Modi has furthered that to “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Vigyan and Jai Anusandhan", as innovation is the foundation of development.

For our tech savvy youth, this will be a golden era. 
A corpus of rupees one lakh crore will be established with
fifty-year interest free loan. The corpus will provide long-term financing or refinancing with long tenors and low or nil interest rates. This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains. We need to have programmes that combine the powers of our youth and technology.

A new scheme will be launched for strengthening 
deep-tech technologies for defence purposes and expediting ‘atmanirbharta’.

Infrastructure Development

Building on the massive tripling of the capital expenditure outlay in the past 4 years resulting in huge multiplier impact on economic growth and employment creation, the outlay for the next year is being increased by 11.1 per cent to eleven lakh, eleven thousand, one hundred and eleven crore rupees 
(` 11,11,111 crore). This would be 3.4 per cent of the GDP.

Three major economic railway corridor programmes will be implemented. These are: energy, mineral and cement corridors, port connectivity corridors, and high traffic density corridors.

The projects have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti for enabling multi-modal connectivity. They will improve logistics efficiency and reduce cost.

The resultant decongestion of the high-traffic corridors will also help in improving operations of passenger trains, resulting in safety and higher travel speed for passengers. Together with dedicated freight corridors, these three economic corridor programmes will accelerate our GDP growth and reduce logistic costs.

Forty thousand normal rail bogies will be converted to the Vande Bharat standards to enhance safety, convenience and comfort of passengers.

Aviation Sector

The aviation sector has been galvanized in the past 
ten years. Number of airports have doubled to 149. Roll out of air connectivity to tier-two and tier-three cities under UDAN scheme has been widespread. Five hundred and seventeen new routes are carrying 1.3 crore passengers. Indian carriers have pro-actively placed orders for over 1000 new aircrafts. Expansion of existing airports and development of new airports will continue expeditiously.

Metro and NaMo Bharat

We have a fast-expanding middle class and rapid urbanization is taking place. Metro Rail and NaMo Bharat can be the catalyst for the required urban transformation. Expansion of these systems will be supported in large cities focusing on transit-oriented development.

Green Energy

Towards meeting our commitment for ‘net-zero’ by 2070, the following measures will be taken.

Viability gap funding will be provided for harnessing offshore wind energy potential for initial capacity of one giga-watt.

Coal gasification and liquefaction capacity of 100 MT will be set up by 2030. This will also help in reducing imports of natural gas, methanol, and ammonia.

Phased mandatory blending of compressed biogas (CBG) in compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport and piped natural gas (PNG) for domestic purposes will be mandated.

Financial assistance will be provided for procurement of biomass aggregation machinery to support collection.

Electric Vehicle Ecosystem

Our Government will expand and strengthen the e-vehicle ecosystem by supporting manufacturing and charging infrastructure. Greater adoption of e-buses for public transport networks will be encouraged through payment security mechanism.

Bio-manufacturing and Bio-foundry

For promoting green growth, a new scheme of
bio-manufacturing and bio-foundry will be launched. This will provide environment friendly alternatives such as biodegradable polymers, bio-plastics, bio-pharmaceuticals and bio-agri-inputs. This scheme will also help in transforming today’s consumptive manufacturing paradigm to the one based on regenerative principles.

Blue Economy 2.0

For promoting climate resilient activities for blue economy 2.0, a scheme for restoration and adaptation measures, and coastal aquaculture and mariculture with integrated and 
multi-sectoral approach will be launched.

Comprehensive development of tourist centres

The success of organizing G20 meetings in sixty places presented diversity of India to global audience. Our economic strength has made the country an attractive destination for business and conference tourism. Our middle class also now aspires to travel and explore. Tourism, including spiritual tourism, has tremendous opportunities for local entrepreneurship.

States will be encouraged to take up comprehensive development of iconic tourist centres, branding and marketing them at global scale. A framework for rating of the centres based on quality of facilities and services will be established. Long-term interest free loans will be provided to States for financing such development on matching basis.

To address the emerging fervour for domestic tourism, projects for port connectivity, tourism infrastructure, and amenities will be taken up on our islands, including Lakshadweep. This will help in generating employment also.

Promoting Investments

The FDI inflow during 2014-23 was USD 596 billion marking a golden era. That is twice the inflow during 2005-14. 
For encouraging sustained foreign investment, we are negotiating bilateral investment treaties with our foreign partners, in the spirit of ‘first develop India’.

Reforms in the States for ‘Viksit Bharat’

Many growth and development enabling reforms are needed in the states for realizing the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’. 
A provision of seventy-five thousand crore rupees as fifty-year interest free loan is proposed this year to support those milestone-linked reforms by the State Governments.

Societal Changes

The Government will form a high-powered committee for an extensive consideration of the challenges arising from fast population growth and demographic changes. The committee will be mandated to make recommendations for addressing these challenges comprehensively in relation to the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’.

Amrit Kaal as Kartavya Kaal

Our Government stands committed to strengthening and expanding the economy with high growth and to create conditions for people to realize their aspirations. Hon’ble Prime Minister in his Independence Day address to the nation, in the 75th year of our Republic said; we “commit ourselves to national development, with new inspirations, new consciousness, new resolutions, as the country opens up immense possibilities and opportunities". It is our ‘Kartavya Kaal’.

Every challenge of the pre-2014 era was overcome through our economic management and our governance. These have placed the country on a resolute path of sustained high growth. This has been possible through our right policies, true intentions, and appropriate decisions. In the full budget in July, our Government will present a detailed roadmap for our pursuit of ‘Viksit Bharat’.

Revised Estimates 2023-24

The Revised Estimate of the total receipts other than borrowings is ₹ 27.56 lakh crore, of which the tax receipts are ₹ 23.24 lakh crore. The Revised Estimate of the total expenditure is Rs. 44.90 lakh crore.

The revenue receipts at ₹ 30.03 lakh crore are expected to be higher than the Budget Estimate, reflecting strong growth momentum and formalization in the economy.

The Revised Estimate of the fiscal deficit is 5.8 per cent of GDP, improving on the Budget Estimate, notwithstanding moderation in the nominal growth estimates.

Budget Estimates 2024-25

Coming to 2024-25, the total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at ` 30.80 and 47.66 lakh crore respectively. The tax receipts are estimated at ` 26.02 lakh crore.

The scheme of fifty-year interest free loan for capital expenditure to states will be continued this year with total outlay of ` 1.3 lakh crore.

We continue on the path of fiscal consolidation, as announced in my Budget Speech for 2021-22, to reduce fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26. The fiscal deficit in 
2024-25 is estimated to be 5.1 per cent of GDP, adhering to that path.

The gross and net market borrowings through dated securities during 2024-25 are estimated at ` 14.13 and 
11.75 lakh crore respectively. Both will be less than that in 
2023-24. Now that the private investments are happening at scale, the lower borrowings by the Central Government will facilitate larger availability of credit for the private sector.

Vote on Account

I will be seeking ‘vote on account’ approval of the Parliament through the Appropriation Bill for a part of the financial year 2024-25.

I will, now, move to Part B.

Hon’ble speaker sir,, direct taxes.

Over the last ten years, the direct tax collections have more than trebled and the return filers swelled to 2.4 times. 
I would like to assure the taxpayers that their contributions have been used wisely for the development of the country and welfare of its people. I appreciate the tax payers for their support.

The Government has reduced and rationalized tax rates. Under the new tax scheme, there is now no tax liability for tax payers with income up to ₹ 7 lakh, up from ₹ 2.2 lakh in the financial year 2013-14. The threshold for presumptive taxation for retail businesses was increased from ₹ 2 crore to ₹ 3 crore. Similarly, the threshold for professionals eligible for presumptive taxation was increased from ₹ 50 lakh to ₹ 75 Lakh. Also, corporate tax rate was decreased from 30 per cent to 22 per cent for existing domestic companies and to 15 per cent for certain new manufacturing companies.

In the last five years, our focus has been to improve 
tax-payer services. The age-old jurisdiction-based assessment system was transformed with the introduction of Faceless Assessment and Appeal, thereby imparting greater efficiency, transparency and accountability. Introduction of updated income tax returns, a new Form 26AS and prefilling of tax returns have made filing of tax returns simpler and easier. Average processing time of returns has been reduced from 93 days in the year 
2013-14 to a mere ten days this year, thereby making refunds faster.

Indirect Taxes

By unifying the highly fragmented indirect tax regime in India, GST has reduced the compliance burden on trade and industry. The industry has acknowledged the benefits of GST. According to a recent survey conducted by a leading consulting firm, 94 per cent of industry leaders view the transition to GST as largely positive. According to 80 per cent of the respondents, it has led to supply chain optimisation, as elimination of tax arbitrage and octroi has resulted in disbanding of check posts at state and city boundaries. At the same time, tax base of GST more than doubled and the average monthly gross GST collection has almost doubled to ₹ 1.66 lakh crore, this year. States too have benefited. States’ SGST revenue, including compensation released to states, in the post-GST period of 
2017-18 to 2022-23, has achieved a buoyancy of 1.22. In contrast, the tax buoyancy of State revenues from subsumed taxes in the pre-GST four-year period of 2012-13 to 2015-16 was a mere 0.72. The biggest beneficiaries are the consumers, as reduction in logistics costs and taxes have brought down prices of most goods and services.

We have taken a number of steps in Customs to facilitate international trade. As a result, the import release time declined by 47 per cent to 71 hours at Inland Container Depots, by 28 per cent to 44 hours at air cargo complexes and by 27 per cent to 
85 hours at sea ports, over the last four years since 2019, when the National Time Release Studies were first started.

Interim Budget 2024 Tax proposals

As for tax proposals, in keeping with the convention, I do not propose to make any changes relating to taxation and propose to retain the same tax rates for direct taxes and indirect taxes including import duties. However, certain tax benefits to start-ups and investments made by sovereign wealth or pension funds as also tax exemption on certain income of some IFSC units are expiring on 31.03.2024. To provide continuity in taxation, 
I propose to extend the date to 31.03.2025.

Moreover, in line with our Government’s vision to improve ease of living and ease of doing business, I wish to make an announcement to improve tax payer services. There are a large number of petty, non-verified, non-reconciled or disputed direct tax demands, many of them dating as far back as the year 1962, which continue to remain on the books, causing anxiety to honest tax payers and hindering refunds of subsequent years. 
I propose to withdraw such outstanding direct tax demands up to twenty-five thousand rupees ( ₹ 25,000) pertaining to the period up to financial year 2009-10 and up to ten-thousand rupees ( ₹ 10,000) for financial years 2010-11 to 2014-15. This is expected to benefit about a crore tax-payers.

Economy – Then and Now

In 2014 when our Government assumed the reins, the responsibility to mend the economy step by step and to put the governance systems in order was enormous. The need of the hour was to give hope to the people, to attract investments, and to build support for the much-needed reforms. The Government did that successfully following our strong belief of ‘nation-first’.

The crisis of those years has been overcome, and the economy has been put firmly on a high sustainable growth path with all-round development. It is now appropriate to look at where we were then till 2014 and where we are now, only for the purpose of drawing lessons from the mismanagement of those years. The Government will lay a White Paper on table of the House.

The exemplary track record of governance, development and performance, effective delivery, and ‘Jan Kalyan’ has given the Government trust, confidence and blessings of the people to realize, whatever it takes, the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’ with good intentions, true dedication and hard work in the coming years and decades.

With this, I commend the interim budget to this august House.

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Yoon urges fiscal prudence in parliamentary budget speech

President shows low-key approach to main opposition leader amid falling support

President Yoon Suk Yeol emphasized fiscal prudence in his budget proposal speech at the National Assembly, Tuesday, as he presented his 2024 budget representing a 2.8 percent increase from this year, the slowest growth since 2005.

Before the budget speech, Yoon met Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), his first official talk with the main opposition party leader in his 18-month presidency. The two reportedly shared opinions on controlling prices and stabilizing the people's livelihoods.

"Fiscal prudence is crucial not only for domestic price stability but also for maintaining the country's national credibility externally," Yoon said. "And most importantly, it is for preventing future generations from inheriting unaffordable debt."

On Sept. 1, the government submitted a budget of 656.9 trillion won ($487 billion) for next year. Yoon said this is up 2.8 percent from this year's spending plan, and the lowest year-on-year increase since 2005.

"We conducted a comprehensive assessment of all fiscal projects from the beginning," Yoon said. "We meticulously identified and cut expenses that did not align with their intended purpose, as well as any cases of unnecessary, excessive or improper spending."

He said that the number is an outcome of cutting spending worth 23 trillion won, which will be used for basic state functions such as national defense, rule of law and education, as well as helping the vulnerable.

The president spent the majority of his speech on explaining individual areas where the budget will be spent, focusing on increased welfare benefits for the vulnerable as the current economic difficulties weigh especially heavily on them.

In terms of rule of law and public safety, Yoon said the government will use the budget for improving the police's crime response capabilities, refurbishing river maintenance systems and increasing soldiers' monthly salaries.

He also pledged to expand the budget for official development assistance to 6.5 trillion won, to increase the country's contributions to the global society, and said the government will will invest 4.4 trillion won in artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, cybersecurity and digital platforms.

On the other hand, Yoon said the government has cut its budget for research and development projects by 3.4 trillion won, citing "calls for qualitative improvements and restructuring."

"The recent rising oil prices, high interest rates and high consumer prices are adding more difficulties to the public livelihood," Yoon said. "I ask for the National Assembly's interest and cooperation in implementing this budget so that the government can alleviate the public difficulties... The global economic uncertainties and security threats that we are facing call for national and bipartisan unity."

The speech was interpreted as the president making a low-key approach to his opposition rival.

During Tuesday's speech, DPK Chairman Lee was the first party head mentioned by Yoon, who stressed bipartisanship and cooperation in pursuing government projects.

This was comparable to Yoon's budget speech last year, in which he showed indifferrence to the opposition, which had boycotted the speech.

Before the speech, Yoon met with National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, heads of rival parties and other government dignitaries, marking the first case in Yoon's presidency of official communication with the DPK chairman.

Yoon and Lee are former rivals in last year's presidential election and have since been foes to each other. While the Yoon administration has refused to communicate with Lee, the DPK has opposed almost every policy pushed by Yoon.

During the meeting, Yoon and Lee exchanged greetings and shook hands. Yoon said, "It's been a long time," and Lee responded with smile.

"Rival parties and the government share the same goal of addressing public economic challenges promptly," Yoon said.

"I ask for the cooperation of the National Assembly, and we (the government) will heed the opinions of the people and explain our budget sincerely to the National Assembly."

More details about the conversation between Yoon and Lee were not revealed to the media. However, according to DPK floor leader Rep. Hong Ihk-pyo, Yoon told Lee about "the difficulties of the public economy," and Lee said "the public's livelihood is challenging, and the government should listen to the people's concerns and implement necessary measures."

The encounter marked a pivotal moment for cooperation between the government and the main opposition party, which holds the majority of seats in the Assembly. However, an immediate breakthrough in resolving the stalemate on key contentious issues between the two sides is believed to be elusive.

While Yoon was entering the National Assembly, members of the DPK held banners in protest against the government. DPK lawmakers also did not applaud during Yoon's speech and only shook hands with the president while being seated or without making eye contact.

DPK floor spokesperson Rep. Yoon Young-deok said, "It was a void speech which was absent of a sense of crisis for the economic difficulties, empathy on the livelihood difficulties of the public and practical solutions to that."