Odisha Ranks Third In Budget Transparency In Country

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has been ranked third in budget transparency in the country by Transparency International.

It was revealed at a high level review meeting on economic indexing held under the chairmanship of chief secretary Asit Tripathy on digital mode on Tuesday. The Transparency International in its annual edition placed Odisha in third rank next to Assam (1st) and Andhra Pradesh (2^nd) with regard to transparency in budget making process, said Principal secretary, Finance Ashok Kumar Meena at the meeting.

Odisha secured 66 raking points against 67 by Andra Pradesh and 70 by Assam. Other states in top five ranks included Jharkhand and Bihar who scored 60 and 59 ranking points respectively.

Complementing the Finance department for the progressive procedural reforms in budget making, financial management and financial regulation, the chief secretary directed the department to work out a ‘composite index’ including agriculture, fishery and animal husbandry sectors for tracking the state’s economy during pre-COVID, COVID and post-COVID scenario. He also told to focus on surrender of the funds lying idle in different Government departments.

The meeting deliberated on different indicators of this ‘composite index’ being prepared with technical support from the centre of excellence for fiscal policy and taxation (CEFT) at XIMB.

Development Commissioner Suresh Chandra Mohapatra; additional secretary, Finance Roop Narayan Das and additional secretary, Finance Satyapriya Ratha along with senior officers of the department participated in the deliberations.