Amaravati seeks Centre's nod for more borrowing

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh has once again appealed to the Centre to allow it to borrow more to overcome its financial problems. This time around it is the turn of the YSRC Parliamentary Party Leader V Vijayasai Reddy to make a Special Mention of the same in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

It may be recalled that AP government has been seeking permission for additional borrowings from various sources to meet its interest repayment schedules and social welfare commitments.

On Thursday, Vijayasai Reddy repeated the request and said since bifurcation, injustice had been done to the residuary Andhra Pradesh. Most revenue sources had gone to Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh was still reeling under deficit due to its unscientific division.

As the 14th Finance Commission rightly said Andhra Pradesh would remain a deficit state at the end of the award period, he said. "Despite these hurdles, our Chief Minister has been able to steer the state, with little help from the Centre, towards welfarism through Navaratnalu, the state's nine flagship schemes focusing on welfare and development," he said.

Recently, the finance minister allowed 7 states to additionally borrow 0.5 per cent of GSDP since they had completed 45 per cent of capex (capital expenditure) in the first half of current fiscal, he said. This condition of capex investment was highly unjustified for Andhra Pradesh, considering that it had faced a deficit since bifurcation.

Referring to the recent statement of the finance minister that she would hold discussions with states to address the state-level challenges and help create more opportunities for boosting investments and pushing the economy, he said AP should be given priority in it and allowed an additional borrowing of 0.5 per cent of GSDP.