Bhutan has emerged as the top recipient of Indian government aid to foreign countries, according to the Union Budget documents released after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2024-25 on Tuesday.
The budget estimate for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for FY 2024-25 is ₹22,155 crore. This amount exceeds the ₹18,050 crore allocated in FY 2023-24 but falls short of the revised estimate of ₹29,121 crore for the same fiscal year.
As per the revised estimates for 2023-24, the Indian government provided ₹6,541.79 crore to foreign governments. This surpassed the budget estimates of ₹5,848.58 crore for 2023-24. The estimate for 2024-25 is 5,667.56 crore.
Bhutan gets mammoth share
Bhutan gets the highest aid as per the Budget 2024-2025 as it is estimated to receive ₹2,068.56 crore. This is less than last year’s ₹2,400 crore. The revised budget for FY 2023-2024 showed a slightly lower utilisation at ₹2,398.97 crore.
Maldives will get ₹400 crore in the new budget, the same as last year. However, the revised budget for FY 2023-2024 shows a higher amount of ₹770.90 crore.
ALSO READ- What Budget means for taxpayers: 10 points
Which country ranked as the top recipient of grants from India?
1. Bhutan: ₹2,068.56 crore
2. Nepal: ₹700 crore
2. Maldives: ₹400 crore
3. Mauritius: ₹370 crore
4. Myanmar: ₹250 crore
5. Sri Lanka: ₹245 crore
6. Afghanistan: ₹200 crore
7. African Countries: ₹200 crore
8. Bangladesh: ₹120 crore
9. Seychelles: ₹40 crore
10. Latin American countries: ₹30 crore
ALSO READ- Union Budget 2024: Where does Centre spend the most money?
Fiscal deficit target reduced to 4.9%
During the presentation of the Union Budget for 2024-25, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman set the fiscal deficit target at 4.9 per cent of GDP. This is lower than the 5.1% target announced in the Interim Budget on February 1.
For FY 2023-24, the initial fiscal deficit target was 5.9 per cent of GDP, which was later revised down to 5.8 per cent.
The fiscal deficit represents the gap between the government’s total revenue and total expenditure, indicating how much the government may need to borrow. The government aims to reduce the fiscal deficit to below 4.5 per cent of GDP by FY 2025-26.