SHIMLA: In the election year, the Himachal Pradesh government on Friday presented a Rs 51,365-crore Budget for the financial year 2022-23 against the 49,131-crore Budget in 2021-22.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who also holds the state’s finance portfolio, presented the Budget 2022-23 that saw more focus on the poor and social security.  The debt on Himachal Pradesh is higher than the amount earmarked in the Budget for the next fiscal presented in the state’s Assembly on Friday.
Soon after presenting the Budget, Thakur, responding to a media query, said the debt burden on the state rose to Rs 63,200 crore from Rs 55,737 crore in the previous year.  
Earlier, while presenting the Budget, the chief minister said Rs 11 would be spent on loan repayment and Rs 10 on interest payment out of every hundred rupees to be spent by the state government in 2022-23.  In this way, over one-fifth of the total Budget amount will be paid on loan repayment and interest payment.
In other words, the state government will use over Rs 10,786 crore on loan repayment and interest payment out of the total Rs 51,365-crore Budget in 2022-23.  No new tax has been proposed in the Budget, which saw an increase of Rs 2,234 crore from Rs 49,131 crore in 2021-22. The increase was Rs 4,743 crore in 2020-21, from Rs 44,388 crore in 2019-20. The Budget was 41,440 crore in 2018-19.
According to the Budget 2022-23, out of every 100 rupees expenditure, Rs 26 will be spent on salaries, Rs 15 on pension, Rs 10 on interest payment, Rs 11 on loan repayment, Rs 9 for grants for autonomous bodies; while the remaining Rs 29 will be spent on other activities, including capital works. The revenue receipts of 2022-23 are estimated at Rs 3,67,375 crore, whereas expenditure is likely to be Rs 40,278 crore — leading to a revenue deficit of Rs 3,903 crore. The fiscal deficit is estimated at Rs 9,602 crore for 2022-23, which is 4.98 per cent of the state’s gross domestic product (GSDP). AGENCIES