Andhra Pradesh: Buggana Rajendranath rubbishes opposition allegations on debts

Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said that misinformation is being spread about the state's debts with the malicious intention of creating fear among the people. He expressed anger that when a question was asked in Parliament about the debts of different states, it was portrayed as if it was only about the Andhra Pradesh state. The minister reminded that during the period between 2014 and 2019, the TDP government incurred more debts and opined that unnecessary debts were mostly incurred during that period.

"During our government, we incurred debts, which is less compared to TDP government debts," he said adding that average annual debt burden in Karnataka is Rs. 60,000 crores, the debt of Tamil Nadu has increased by Rs.1 lakh crores. The minister asserted that AP's debt ratio is very low, be it population-wise or otherwise and opined that the debt incurred during current government is less compared to the gross product. He said if the debt increased by 15%-16% per annum in Andhra Pradesh, it increased by 20% in other states," Buggana said.

Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said the fiscal deficit was 3.95% in 2014 and the government have reduced it to 3% in 2021-22. The finance minister said that the neighbouring states have fiscal deficits above 4%. "The percentage of general purpose debt has increased, which happened due to the situation of Covid-19," Minister Buggana Rajendranath said.