Shillong, Mar 5: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday presented a deficit budget of Rs. 1, 970 crore for the financial year 2025-26 which is around 2.96 percent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

Presenting the budget the Chief Minister in charge of Finance said that the fiscal deficit has been maintained below the permissible limit of 3.5 percent.

Sangma also informed the House that along with the main budget document he presented the Climate, Youth, Gender, and Sustainable Development Goals budgets.

The size of the climate budget for 2025-26 is Rs. 5,421 crore, an increase of 20 percent over 2024-25. The youth budget stands at Rs 3,329 crore, an increase of 16.6 percent, the gender budget stands at Rs. 6,219 crore, an increase of 25 percent.

Sangma while reiterating that this is a people’s budget stated that all the government interventions and programs are citizen-centric.

“While there is more work to be done, the government’s performance is evident in the many development projects and the state DBT programs that are being implemented and the opportunities that are being provided to youth, women, and farmers,” the Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister said that the government has also placed the State’s vision document for 2032 in public domain and has conducted regional and sectoral consultations over the last six months and therefore this budget has benefitted from the feedback gathered through this exercise.

He also said that Meghalaya’s vision is to become a $10 billion economy by 2028 and to be amongst the top ten States in the country, both in terms of per capita GDP and achievement of Sustainable Development Goals by 2032, when we celebrate the diamond jubilee of Statehood.

According to him, this vision has been translated into an actionable plan called ‘Meghalaya Mission 10.’

The Mission is centered around leveraging 10 opportunity sectors that will drive growth and create employment for our youth.

“I have also made 10 commitments to ensure that every Meghalayan benefits from the growth story,” Sangma said.

The Chief Minister also said that another defining feature of this year’s budget is that it builds on the learnings from the ongoing consultations with the Sixteenth Finance Commission.

All States and the Union are engaging with the Sixteenth Finance Commission, which is mandated to make recommendations inter alia on the sharing of taxes between the Union and the States and amongst the States for the period 2026-31.

The Commission visited Meghalaya in September 2024, and the government made a detailed submission on the state’s development journey over the last decade and the state’s aspirations for 2032.

The Chief Minister said that the long-run analysis of Meghalaya’s economy and development indicators vis-a-vis other Northeastern and Hilly States clearly shows that the period 2010-18 was a time of crisis for state finances.

“This meant that we were unable to make critical investments in sectors like health, education and core infrastructure like roads, water supply and power. Meghalaya’s growth during this period was slower, compared to the Northeastern region’s steady progress,” Sangma said.

For instance, he pointed out that a comparative analysis of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) of Assam and Meghalaya shows how both states had similar poverty rates at the start of the period, and how Assam reduced its multidimensionally poor population by 13 percent, whereas Meghalaya reduced by only 4.8 percent.

He told the House that the MDA government has been able to achieve a reversal of fortunes for Meghalaya and its people since 2018.

“We have achieved an impressive 11 percent economic growth over the last seven years. The growth is fueled by expanding public investments due to an increase in tax devolutions and the State’s revenues, leveraging Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), Externally Aided Projects (EAPs), and new schemes like the Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI),” Sangma said.

According to the Chief Minister, despite losing two years to the COVID pandemic, the state has been able to streamline its finances, improve governance, strengthen service delivery, protect the rights of the Indigenous people, maintain peace and harmony, and make transformative investments across sectors.

He said that the results of these investments are already visible in sectors like health, water supply, tourism, women empowerment, entrepreneurship, information technology, and power.

He, however, said that the indicators in sectors like agriculture, nutrition, and education need longer turnaround times.

Sangma told the House that his government is committed to working harder and strengthening collaborations to ensure improvement in every sustainable development goal.

The Chief Minister said that the Meghalaya model of development is built on principles of strengthening traditional community institutions, investing in citizens, leveraging technology, and forging national and international partnerships.

“We are one of the front runner States in the country in terms of direct investment in citizens and traditional institutions. We are providing multi-crore investments to cooperative societies for building large agri-processing units, multi-million investment support to individual entrepreneurs for setting up businesses, and grants to communities to build infrastructure,” he added.