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Rs 3,73,140 crore: That's Andhra Pradesh’s debt burden

The Comptroller and Auditor General has flagged off Andhra Pradesh government's gross debt burden which has now risen to Rs 3,73,140 crore by the end of November 2020.

CAG report Rs 3,73,140 crore Andhra Pradesh Jagan debt trap-VPN
Author
Amaravati, First Published Jan 4, 2021, 9:17 AM IST

The Comptroller and Auditor General has flagged off Andhra Pradesh government's gross debt burden which has now risen to Rs 3,73,140 crore by the end of November 2020.

The CAG's November account book shows that from April 2020 to November 2020 (8 months) the state government borrowed Rs 73,811.85 crore as against the annual target of Rs 48,295.59 crore.

The account books showed a 152 per cent jump in borrowing compared to 99.25% the previous year. In fact, in November, the government had to borrow over Rs 13,000 crore just to foot the freebies bill.

As against the projected revenue deficit of Rs 18,434 crore, the November actuals showed a revenue deficit of Rs 57,925 crore.

According to reports, at the current trend of borrowing, the Andhra Pradesh government may need to raise a loan of at least another Rs 30,000 crore by the end of March 2021.

With this, the total borrowing in the 2020-21 financial year will shoot up to over Rs 1.04 lakh crore.

Opposition slams Jagan Mohan Reddy

In his defence, Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that Rs 97,000 crore out of the state's massive debt was passed on to it at the time of bifurcation.

Former finance minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu slammed the Jagan Mohan Reddy government over its handling of expenses.

"The government's inefficiency in fiscal management has led to a precarious financial situation. The state's economy is directionless. The government lacks a deep understanding and is clueless as to what the economy needs now," he said.

In a statement yesterday, Ramakrishnudu said that "the government borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh crore during the last 19 months, and levied taxes to the tune of Rs 75,000 crore. The tax burden was Rs 4,000 crore additionally per month. Physical infrastructure and social infrastructure development was literally nil. The government had deferred payment of TA and six DAs to employees. The pensioners were not receiving pensions in time. The fiscal deficit was touching Rs 1,10,320 crore."

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