Vijayawada : Compared with TDP rule, state doing well now, asserts Buggana Rajendranath Reddy

Vijayawada : Rejecting the 'propaganda' of Opposition TDP and its 'friendly media' on the state finances, finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy asserted that the state has done well despite Covid and the debt was well in control vis a vis the TDP tenure.

Addressing the media at the Secretariat on Friday, the minister said annual debt growth rate during the previous government between 2014-19 was 19.2 per cent and it was brought down to 15.77 per cent in YSRCP government. The fiscal deficit of the state was 4 per cent of GSDP on average in the previous government while it was 2.10 per cent in 2021-22.

He slammed the Opposition for comparing the state with Sri Lanka and reminded that the government has disbursed Rs 1.46 lakh crore directly into the accounts of beneficiaries in a transparent manner under Direct Benefit Transfer ( DBT ) schemes and spent another Rs 44,000 crore for non-DBT schemes.

Rajendranath Reddy said a total of Rs 27,448 crore NREGS works were done in last three years while it was Rs 27,340 crore works in TDP regime between 2014-19. The average rate of interest for borrowing loans under the TDP rule was 8 per cent while it was 7 per cent in the current government.

Rebutting the 'malicious propaganda' of the Opposition on 14th and 15th Finance Commission funds, he said the state government had cleared the 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 under this government.

The data proves that TDP and its friendly media have been constantly and blatantly misleading the people on state finances.