BUDGET BLUES It isn’t unusual for a post-election budget to take away some of the sweeteners handed out to the electorate in the run-up to the poll. And Budget 2021, which will be presented in parliament in November, is likely to follow suit – albeit for different reasons. After all, there’s the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak to contend with amid media reports that the state is facing a staggering Rs. 1.3 trillion loss of revenue on the back of the wide-ranging tax concessions that were promised and delivered by the president earlier in the year. We have also been told that the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) is unlikely to meet its revenue target of some 600 billion rupees; and that it has been reduced to offset the cost of the tax concessions, which amounted to Rs. 490 billion. On top of this, the IRD was reportedly facing a shortfall of nearly 200 billion rupees at the end of August whereas in the previous fiscal year, it all but met its Rs. 800 billion collection target. And with losses also arising from the government’s stimulus measures to business in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the budget deficit is expected to blow out of proportion. So yes, expect belt-tightening measures next month along with a possible reversal of some of the concessions announced in January. Indeed, austerity will be part and parcel of the ‘new normal’ – it already is.