Govt to push for Budget by July 31

New Delhi, May 23 (PTI) The new Indian Congress-led UPA
government Saturday said it will strive to pass the Union
Budget for 2009-10 by July 31 to restore the growth momentum
of the economy reeling under the impact of the global
financial meltdown.

"We hope we will be able to pass the full Budget by July
31", Cabinet Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the
first meeting of the new Cabinet, which lasted for about half
an hour.

In case the government is unable to get the Budget passed
by Parliament by July 31, he said, "It may be necessary to
take another vote-on-account for a very short period."

The government through an interim budget in February
sought the approval of Parliament to withdraw money from
consolidated fund to meet necessary expenditure until July 31.

The vote-on-account, which is approved by Parliament,
allows government to spend money from the exchequer only a
specified period of time.

Outlining the priorities of the new government Friday,
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said, "(The) first task is
to restore the economy and its growth momentum ... There is
global recession, we have to protect our growth."

At Saturday's Cabinet meeting also Singh told his
colleagues to focus on the economy. "We have made number of
promises and we have promises to keep," Chidambaram said
quoting Singh. (MORE) PTI