Kerala: 'No solutions in the budget to save state from financial crisis...' BJP state president K Surendran

By Aishwarya Nair | First Published Feb 5, 2024, 2:51 PM IST

Kerala's BJP President K Surendran slammed the state government for poor budget presentation by Finance Minister KN Balagopal. He alleged that there is nothing big in the budget to save Kerala from the severe financial crisis.

Thiruvananthapuram: BJP state president K. Surendran has criticized the state budget presented by finance minister K. N. Balagopal. There is nothing in the budget for the development and growth of Kerala. The budget merely contains blabbering; and no announcements regarding aid for Kerala's farmers.

K Surendran said, "Even in the tourism sector, no solution is provided. Many of the observations in the budget are contrary to the facts. There is nothing in the budget to save the financially devastated Kerala. The welfare pension has been stalled for months. The budget does not give any hope to the common man. The increase in the support price of rubber by only Rs 10 is a fraud."

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Slamming the budget announcement, the BJP Kerala Chief said," Kerala government is simply making extravagant expenses. Kerala is taking loans and wasting money. The Finance Minister's speech clarifies that KIIFB is a fraud. Also, it was SFI who beat up TP Srinivasan for talking about foreign universities. He should apologize. Balagopal says that the cause of the financial crisis is the Centre. In response, the Center has given an affidavit to the Supreme Court yesterday. "

Kerala will soon experience a severe financial crisis, the central government told the Supreme Court, citing the state's rising interest payments on its debt. The state government's borrowing partners, Kerala Social Security Pension Limited and KIIFB, have no independent sources of revenue, according to a note the central government submitted to the Supreme Court. Along with Punjab and Bengal, Kerala is the state with the worst fiscal management in the country. It stated that borrowing was 31 percent of the GDP in 2018-2019 and increased to 39 percent in 2021-22.

In response to a suit that the Kerala government had filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Centre's cap on Kerala's borrowing limit, the central government was responding. The 14th Finance Commission recommends that interest payments never exceed 10 percent of total revenue. However, in Kerala's situation, the interest the state is currently paying will come to 19.98 percent of revenue. The Centre further emphasised that the state is utilising the borrowed funds to pay for ongoing expenses, such as paying salaries and pensions, rather than investing them in profitable ventures.

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