Thiruvananthapuram: The state’s debt has shot up like never before under the LDF tenure. The annual growth rate of debt has increased to the level of 18.48 per cent in 2016-17 from 16.19 per cent in 2015-16.The increase has been sharper than the increases witnessed during the five years of the UDF regime. This was revealed in the Economic Survey 2017 that was tabled in the Assembly on Thursday.
Outstanding debt liabilities of the state at the end of 2016-17 were Rs 86,453.68 crore. In other words, a new born in Kerala will not enter the world with a clean slate, she will come saddled with a debt of Rs 25,884. The annual growth rate of debt has increased to the level of 18.48 percent in 2016-17 from 16.19 per cent in 2015-16. The Debt to GSDP ratio in 2010-11 was 24.24 per cent. In 2016-17, it stood at 30.22 percent. “The ratio of debt in terms of revenue receipts increased to 246.59 percent in 2016-17 from 227.97 percent in 2015-16,” the Survey noted.
