CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -The Economic Advisory Council of the Fifteenth Finance Commission will meet on 23-24 April, 2020. It will be an online meeting presided by Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, Shri N. K. Singh and attended by all the Members and Senior Officials of the Finance Commission.

Detailed explanation-2: -Nand Kishore Singh was appointed as the commission’s chairman, with its full-time members being Shaktikanta Das and Anoop Singh and its part-time members being Ramesh Chand and Ashok Lahiri. The commission held its first meeting on 2017-12-04.

Detailed explanation-3: -For states, the FC had recommended a fiscal deficit limit of 4% for FY22, 3.5% in FY23 and 3% during FY24-26. If a state is unable to fully utilise the sanctioned borrowing limit during the first four years (FY22-FY25), it could avail the unutilised borrowing amount in subsequent years (within FY22-FY26).

Detailed explanation-4: -The Commission observed that the recommended path for fiscal deficit for the centre and states will result in a reduction of total liabilities of: the centre from 62.9% of GDP in 2020-21 to 56.6% in 2025-26, and. the states on aggregate from 33.1% of GDP in 2020-21 to 32.5% by 2025-26.