The Finance Ministry will start the work of preparing the annual budget for the financial year 2023-24 from October 10. This process of preparing the budget of the ministry is starting while giving impetus to the domestic economy and the possibility of a recession in developed countries.

According to the Budget Circular 2023-24 of the Budget Unit of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, the pre-budget meetings under the chairmanship of the Expenditure Secretary will start on October 10. The budget estimates for the financial year 2023-24 will be provisionally finalized after the completion of the pre-budget meetings.

According to the ministry, the meetings on the Revised Estimate (RE) of the budget will continue till mid-November 2022. The budget for the financial year 2023-24 can be presented in the first phase of the budget session of Parliament on February 1, 2023.

The budget session of Parliament usually starts in the last week of January. The budget for the next financial year will need to address issues like high inflation, a spurt in demand, job creation, and sustaining a growth rate of more than eight percent.

It is noteworthy that a day before this, the Finance Minister said that with inflation coming down, this issue is no longer important. Sitharaman said that now the priority of the government is to generate employment and accelerate economic growth.

This will be the second term of the government and the fifth budget of Sitharaman. Simultaneously, there will be the last full budget before the general elections to be held in April-May 2024.