THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance Minister K. N. Balagopal met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and submitted a memorandum outlining Kerala’s requirements, including the withdrawal of retrospective cuts in the state’s borrowing ceiling.
“The state stands to lose about Rs 4,711 crore in this financial year and the next due to the Centre’s decision to adjust borrowings by the KIIFB (Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board) and the KSSPL (Kerala Social Security Pension Ltd) within the borrowing limit. The implementation of this decision with retrospective effect has dealt us a double blow in terms of resource availability and the ability to borrow from the open market,” the memorandum stated.
One of the key demands is allowing additional borrowing of Rs 6,000 crore to compensate for the state government’s spending on land acquisition for national highways.
According to the memorandum, Kerala is covering 25% of the land acquisition costs. The approved amount for this is Rs 6,769 crore, of which the state has already spent Rs 5,580 crore.
Kerala has also urged the Union government to delink the compliance with CSS-related branding guidelines from the mandatory conditions required to avail benefits of the CAPEX scheme for 2024-25. Additionally, Balagopal requested the Centre to take a positive decision on the state’s request for a special package for disaster-related rehabilitation in Wayanad.