20. Rapid development of the economy depends on adequate investment in infrastructure. A key issue here is imposition of appropriate user charges necessary to provide adequate returns on investment. Public resources have been invested in the public sector over the last 50 years for the provision of infrastructure services in the country. One consequence of this has been that user charges have inevitably become politically determined. Over time non-merit subsidies inherent in such low user charges have mounted to over 10 per cent of GDP, a figure similar to the total fiscal deficit of the Central and State Governments combined. Hence they are a major cause of the fiscal distress being experienced at all levels.