Kerala finance minister to unveil budget on June 4

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal will present the first budget of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government on Friday.

Though former Finance Minister Thomas Isaac had presented a full budget for the 2021-22 fiscal on January 15, the House had only passed the vote-on-account for the first four months of the fiscal as the tenure of that government was coming to an end.

Balagopal told the media on Thursday that the Left government will fulfil the promises in its election manifesto.

”There are financial constraints which we are all facing due to the pandemic. However, the previous government stood with the people and provided good governance. We will stand with the people and fulfil the promises given in the election manifesto,” Balagopal said.

The previous government had presented a welfare-oriented budget hiking social welfare pensions, revising the salary of government employees and giving relief for farmers besides making hefty allocations for higher education, employment and digital economy.

Isaac took a record three hours 18 minutes to read out the last budget.