VIJAYAWADA: Special Secretary to CM (finance and economic affairs), Duvvuri Krishna, has taken strong exception to the alleged “misinformation campaign” undertaken by the opposition parties about the financial health of the state.
Addressing the media here on Tuesday, he shared details from the recent RBI report about the outstanding liabilities of the state over the last four years.
Highlighting how the state exchequer was burdened in 2019, Duvvuri Krishna said, "Just days before the 2019 general elections to the state assembly, the Telugu Desam government hurriedly disbursed scheme-related amounts to lure voters.”
He said the Chandrababau-led government raised a whopping Rs 5,000 crore through the SDL auction on a single day on April 9, 2019, just two days before the election. “This would possibly be the highest debt any state government would have raised on a single day."
Sharing more quotes from the RBI report, Krishna said it was a herculean task for the YSR Congress government to improve the state's financial position. "The outstanding liabilities had increased by 138.84 per cent during the 5-year TDP rule. This translates to a compounded annual growth rate of the liabilities of 19.02 per cent during 2014-19.”
As against that, the increase in liabilities during the YSRC government’s term increased by only 62.78 per cent during the past four years. This translated to a compounded annual growth rate of the liabilities of 13.55 per cent during 2014-19 fiscal."
Krishna sought to bust the claims of the opposition that the debts of the government have doubled in the YSRC term. "In 2014, the liabilities of the TD government were Rs 1,13,797 crore as per the RBI report, which increased to Rs 2,71,797.56 crore in 2019. This is an increase of 238 per cent.”
Compared to this, the debt of the state under the YSRC government has not doubled during the first (nearly) four years of the present government, as alleged. It has only increased by 62.78 per cent."
Krishna stated, "As alleged by the opposition if the liabilities were to double during the period of the present government, the borrowing during the final year of the present government should be Rs 1,01,150 crore. This is just impossible. We should appreciate the efforts of the YSRCP government."
