The hectic efforts to bridge the fiscal chasm caused by mismanaged subsidies on fuel seem to be coming to naught even as Pranab Mukherjee prepares to present the union budget. The government's subsidy burden threatens to reach 2.5 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) for the fiscal ending March 31, the highest in 10 years, due to rising prices of crude oil and other commodities. While the volume of subsidies as a per cent of GDP has been increasing continuously since 2003-04, one can get a sense of the crisis considering that the ratio of subsidies as a percentage of GDP in 2011-12 is projected to surpass even the level attained during the global financial crisis of 2008-09, when it stood at 2.3 per cent.
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