Thiruvananthapuram: Dr T M Thomas Isaac who is tipped to be the finance minister said on Monday that the LDF Government would bring out a white paper on the financial position of the state. He told media persons that the new government was taking over at a time when the state was passing through a serious financial crisis.
“Several steps will have to be initiated to overcome the financial crisis. But first we have to bring out a white paper to know about the status of finances,” he said and added that situation was so bad that even if corrective steps are taken today, it would take almost a year for things to get normal.
Dr Isaac said there was a similar crisis about 15 years ago. Experts agree with Isaac’s view that the state was in the grip of severe financial crisis. There is fall in tax revenue, the systems that were put in place for tax collection five years ago, are either not functioning or are totally ineffective.
Salaries, pensions and interest payments likely to consume over two thirds of state’s of the total budgeted revenue of Rs 84,000 crore for this fiscal. The new government will have to give top priority for collecting the outstanding arrears due to the government from various areas.
It will have to ensure efficiency of officials. The new government would not be able to take its next step if the financial position was not set right at the earliest. However, many believe that with finance portfolio going to Dr Isaac things would improve at the earliest.
