Andhra Pradesh: Government blames Covid, TDP for debts

Amaravati: The state government defended the rising debts of the state during 2020-21 citing Covid affect. It said the governments were forced to impose lockdowns to protect the people from the deadly virus resulting in a steep fall in revenues. It also pointed out that the Central government was forced to make a borrowing of Rs 18,48,655 crore in the year.

In a statement released here on Tuesday, the state government stated that before pandemic outbreak, the economic growth in the country was dismal and GDP (gross domestic product) during 2019-20 stood at 4.18 per cent. The same trend reflected in several states too.

In addition, with the unjust bifurcation of state, non-fulfilment of the commitments made to the state and the mis-governance from 2014 to 2019, borrowings had increased. Owing to the alarming increase in liabilities of the state over the period from 2014 to 2019 during the TDP rule, the servicing cost of the debt has risen to more than Rs 25,000 crore, the state government claimed.

The statement said the current government has formulated many interventions to ensure good progress in all sectors, including modernisation of educational infrastructure, improving existing medical colleges. The present government ensured transparency and objectivity in delivery of the schemes, essentially through Direct Benefit Transfer mode that is completely devoid of any form of corruption or favouritism.

It is important to note that even the opposition parties are not expressing any doubts regarding the delivery of promises by the present government, the statement claimed. "The Covid 19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the state finances. Even if the assessment of the financial loss is done on a conservative basis, it will be a minimum of Rs 21,500 crore. Revenue loss on account of state share in Central taxes alone is Rs 7,780 crore and loss on account of state's own revenues is Rs 6961 crore, taking the total revenue loss to Rs 14,742 crore.

The additional expenditure that is entirely on account of the pandemic is close to Rs 6,700 crore. If the loss on account of several lost opportunities is evaluated, it would additionally run into several thousands of crores," the state government explained. As on March 31, 2021, the state government's debt stands at Rs 3,48,998.11 crore, registering 34.70% growth as against Central government's Rs 1,12,50,391.76 crore, which amounts to 32.86 per cent debt growth.