Express News Service
PATNA: Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Tar Kishore Prasad said that Bihar has “a better economic growth rate than the national average due to the gradual growth for over a decade.”
Prasad was speaking during the presentation of the Bihar Economic Survey Report 2020-21 on the first day of the Legislative Assembly session.
The state finance minister said, “Bihar’s growth rate is nearly 10.5 per cent at constant prices.”
In total, 13 chapters were covered in the Economic Survey of Bihar. Efforts of the state government during the COVID-19 lockdown were covered in a separate chapter.
According to Tar Kishore Prasad, Bihar’s GDP was Rs 6,11,804 crore at current prices and Rs 4,14,977 crore at constant prices of 2011-12.
He admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic has definitely damaged the service sectors, but due to the strong agrarian economy, the state has not had a huge impact on its overall development.
Elaborating on the state’s income, he said that the total receipts of revenue to the government for the financial year 2019-20 was Rs 1,53,408 crore, which was higher than the Rs 1,52,287 crore during the previous year.
Tar Kishore Prasad said that in the 2019-20 financial year, the total revenue of the state government was Rs 1,23,533 crore and capital expenditure was Rs 20,080 crore. He said that the revenue share of total expenditure has increased from 74.4 percent in 2015-16 to 86 per cent in 2019-20.
He also claimed that the state government will create more than 20 lakh new employment opportunities in public and non-government sectors in the next few years.
Quoting figures, he said that a huge sum of more than Rs 10,000 crores was spent on providing relief to people during the coronavirus induced lockdown.
