April 12, 2018: India’s social sector spending remains woefully below peers, including Latvia and Iceland, in terms of GDP. A study published in RBI’s monthly bulletin on an analysis of 17 countries, including India, with respect to their social sector expenditure as per cent of GDP 2016.
The study titled ‘Union Budget 2018-19: An Assessment’ has been published in the latest monthly bulletin.
The study said, with the National Health Protection Scheme under the ‘Ayushman Bharat’ programme and the reform of the education system, the expenditure on health and education together is budgeted to grow by 4.6 per cent as per the 2018-19 Budget.
As per the chart cited in the study, India’s social sector expenditure as per cent of GDP in 2016 was 7.5 per cent whereas it was 29 per cent in Belgium, 15.2 per cent in Iceland, 14.5 in Latvia and 10.4 per cent in Korea, among other countries. (AIR News)
