Not an Unmanageable Task

Not an Unmanageable Task THE backdrop to the central budget for 1997-98, to be presented next Friday, is one of gloom about the state of the government's finances and uncertainty about how the finance minister will meet the large expenditure demands with relatively inelastic revenues. Quick on the heels of the ruling United Front's failure to deal with the massive and growing oil pool deficit have come the preposterous proposals of the Fifth Pay Commission. But a good part of the problem has also been the finance minister's predisposition to look for answers to budgetary difficulties within the narrow and rigid framework of the structural adjustment programme. A substantial part of the fiscal mess is in fact attributable to the SAP agenda which has been sought to be put through since July 1991. The present finance minister's attempt to follow the same path cannot but deepen the fiscal crisis.