New govt plans budget by end-July

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The new coalition government hopes to win parliament approval for the union budget for 2009/10 by the end of July, cabinet minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on Saturday.

The date for the presentation of the budget has not yet been decided, Chidambaram told reporters.

"We hope that we will be able to pass the full budget by July 31," he said after the first cabinet meeting of the new government following a general election.

"If not, we will have to take another vote-on-account for a very short period," he said referring to a temporary measure to allow government spending.

The central government had presented an interim budget in February to get parliament approval for necessary expenditure until July 31, and left it to the new government to present a formal budget.

Chidambaram said the decision on whether the government would present a vote-on-account or a full budget would be taken later by the ruling coalition government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Financial markets are waiting to get a sense of the new government spending plans and steps to repair public finances. The government had said in February that expenditure may jump later this year to shield the economy from a global slump.

The government faces a widening deficit, slowing growth and huge expectations for fresh stimulus to protect growth and jobs.