Stat financial situation better than previous government: Buggana

Amaravati: YSRCP has given strong rebuttals backed with facts and figures and setting the record straight the better finance management and fiscal discipline of the State government said Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath.

Calling it the bluff of the Opposition TDP and its friendly media on the State finances, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said the State has done well despite Covid and the state debt was well in control vis a vis the TDP term.

The Minister said the annual debt growth rate during the previous government between 2014-19 was 19.2 percent and it was brought down to 15.77 in the YSRCP government. He said the fiscal deficit of the state was 4 per cent of GSDP on average in the previous government while it was 2.10 percent in 2021-22. and slammed the Opposition for comparing the State with Srilanka and reminded that the government has disbursed 1.46 lakh crore directly into the accounts of beneficiaries in a transparent manner under Direct Benefit Transfer ( DBT ) schemes and spent another 44,000 crore for Non DBT schemes.

The Minister informed that a total of 27,448 crore NREGS works were done in the last three years while it was 27,340 crore works in the TDP regime between 2014-19. He said the average rate of interest for borrowing loans in the TDP tenure was 8 percent while it was 7 percent in the current government.

The Minister slammed opposition for its malicious propaganda on fourteenth and fifteenth finance commission funds and added that the State government has cleared the pending arrears of Rs2,200 crore electricity charges of local bodies. He said the average investment between 2014-19 in large and medium projects was Rs 11,994 crore while it was Rs 13,201 crore in the present government despite covid pandemic. He also added that the rank of the state in exports has been improved in this government.