In the Indian Union Budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 unveiled on Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was allocated InRs 22,154 crore.
In line with India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, the largest share of aid portfolio has been granted to Bhutan with an allocation of InRs 2,068 crore. The development assistance to the Maldives has been kept at InRs 600 crore against last year’s InRs 770 crore, according to budget papers.
Nepal has come third with InRs 650 crores for various development projects currently underway which is InRs 100 crore up compared to last year.
In continuation with India’s special relationship with the people of Afghanistan, a budgetary aid of InRs 200 crore has been set aside for that country.
An amount of InRs 120 crore will be provided to Bangladesh under development aid while Nepal would be provided InRs 700 crore.
According to the budget documents, Sri Lanka will get development aid worth InRs 75 crore, Mauritius InRs 370 crore and Myanmar InRs 250 crore. A separate amount of InRs 200 crore has been set aside for African countries.
The total development assistance to various countries and regions such as Latin America and Eurasia has been pegged at InRs 4,883 crore.
Presenting the interim budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the recently announced India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is a strategic and economic game changer for India and others.
The IMEC is seen as an initiative by like-minded nations to gain strategic influence in the face of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that has faced increasing criticism over lack of transparency and disregard for sovereignty of the nations.
The Interim Union Budget for the financial year 2024/25 was tabled in the Indian Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier on Thursday. This was the sixth budget presented by the current FM and the last one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s second term.
The full budget will be presented in July this year after the new government is formed after the Lok Sabha Elections.
