HYDERABAD: Defending the state government’s decision for going in for market borrowings, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday blamed the Centre for increase in debt-to GSDP ratio in the state.
“The debt-to-GSDP ratio is 21 per cent. It should have been 19 per cent but because the Centre wanted us to take the `9,000 crore loan under UDAY scheme, the debt-to-GSDP ratio was increased,” Rao said in his reply to the general discussion on Budget in the State Assembly on Tuesday. He, however, added that the State was raising loans within the permissible limits.
When BJP member K Laxman pointed out the ever increasing debt burden on the public, Rao wondered whether the BJP-ruled States were not borrowing money. The Central government too was borrowing money. The debt of the Central government was `5,35,618 crore in 2016-17 and ` 5,94,849 crore in 2017-18 and `6,24,276 crore in 2018-19 Budget. The total debts of the Centre were `82 lakh crore as against its GDP of `167 lakh crore, he said.
The Centre’s debt-to-GDP ratio was 49.5 per cent whereas it is just 21 per cent including UDAY loans, the Chief Minister explained.