Recovery of loans low, debt shoots up to Rs1.81 lakh crore
Tuesday, 16/05/2017
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/recovery-of-loans-low-debt-shoots-up-to-rs1-81-lakh-crore/407649.html
Chandigarh : Punjab’s total revenue in 2016-17 — the last year of the Akali BJP regime — fell short by over Rs4,770 crore, the debt mounted to over Rs1.81 lakh crore even as the recovery of loans and advances remained the lowest and disbursement of loans remained the highest in the past several years.
The state recovered just Rs99.57 crore as loans and advances as against Rs5,728.06 crore recovered in the previous fiscal (2015-16).
Against this, the state disbursed Rs7,181.49 crore as loans and advances even as the budget proposals had laid a provision to disburse only Rs399.70 crore. The grants-in-aid, received from the Centre, increased by Rs1,224.63 crore in 2016-17, while tax revenue seems to have fallen prey to the pre- election sops of the Akali- BJP government.
This has been revealed in the provisional accounts of the government, which have just been calculated. The figures, though show some relief in the form of the total revenue deficit being much lower (Rs6,610.71 crore) than the budget estimates for 2016-17, which had projected revenue deficit of Rs7,982.84 crore, confirm the worst fears of the Congress government about their “inheritance of loss.”
On the other hand, possibly because of a shortfall in revenue, the total expenditure of the state also fell in the last fiscal. Against a projected Rs62,967.81 crore expenditure, Punjab was able to spend just Rs56,430.81 crore.
Finance Minister, Manpreet Singh Badal, told The Tribune that the fiscal indicators for 2016-17, released now, have confirmed his worst fears. “The revenue deficit is nearly one billion dollars. The debt, which is over Rs1.81 lakh crore against a projected debt of Rs1.30 lakh crore, is high and unsustainable. As FM, I have no option but to immediately take corrective steps on cutting on all wasteful expenditure,” he said.
“The White Paper will highlight the debt and the liabilities raised by other state government undertakings where the state is the guarantor,” he said, adding that the White Paper will also be discussed with his Cabinet colleagues, just before it is officially released in the Vidhan Sabha.
