Monday, May 25, 2009

Pranab Meets Senior Officials To Discuss Budget - May 25, 2009

After being allocated as the Finance Minister portfolio, Pranab Mukherjee seemed to have held an informal meeting with the senior officials in the ministry and discussed the issues relating to the Union Budget preparation. The Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla as well as Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Virmani met Mukherjee on Sunday. Mr. Mukherjee is likely to take over the charge on Monday. According to sources, Mr. Mukherjee might convene a meeting of senior Finance Ministry officials on Monday.

After the first meeting of the new cabinet meet on Saturday, Mr. Mukherjee had expressed hope that the government would be able to present the Union Budget for FY 09-10 in due time to avoid uncertainties.

Regarding the economic scenario, he had said, "Indian economy is resilient, strong and we shall have to build up and come back to the growth track as early as possible.

We will be able to, I hope, present the budget in due time so that uncertainties can be avoided and time of spending can be renewed."

Mr. Mukherjee had presented an interim budget in February this year and had sought Parliament''s approval for the withdrawal of money from the consolidated fund only till July 31.

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