Do you know ...

about budgets around the world?

> The practice of presenting budgets in parliament is widely held to havee been started by Robert Walpole, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, in 1733.

> The word “budget” originates from references to a bag or pouch.

> The United States regularly has the world’s highest military budget by value. Last year, it spent 3.3% of its GDP on defence. South Sudan, with a 13 million population, spends about 10% of its GDP on military expenditure.

> A finance magazine, using International Monetary Fund data, ranked the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi as the three poorest countries in the world. Their GDP per capita stood at US$656, US$784 and US$818 respectively. > Margaret Thatcher’s longestserving minister, Sir Geoffrey Howe (1926-2015), named his dog “Budget” when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer.

When hhe became foreign secretary, the dog wwas renamed

“Summit”. > In March, India’s Himachal Pradesh state Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh delivered a budget speech that lasted for four hours and 30 minutes. Apparently, the 83-year-old stood throughout the presentation.

In 1853, British Chancellor William Gladstone’s budget speech took four hours 45 minutes “during which he was fortified by a potent mix of egg and sherry,” said The Guardian.

> Prior to the budget presentation in India, a halwa ceremony is held in which a sweet dessert is served to the staff involved. This is based on a traditional belief that it is auspicious to have something sweet before the start of a major task.

> Japan has the highest ratio of debt to GDP.GDP Various reports estimate it to be between 235% and 239%. This is partly due to its aging population and weak productivity over the years.