BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said the debt burden on the state is Rs 96,310 crore which is well within permissible limit.
Addressing mediapersons here on Thursday, the chief minister said the per capital loan burden on Odisha is Rs 20,736 crore which is much better than several major states of the country. Stating at present the debt outlook of the state seems stable, the chief minister said it is likely to improve further by end of the year. He said the government has set a target to repay Rs 21,092 crore loan during the year.
As per the status paper on public debt released by the state government, in the next three years, total public debt is expected to increase from 13.1 per cent of the GSDP in FY 2023-24 to approximately 16.7 per cent of the GSDP in FY 2026-27. This will be driven by fiscal deficit arising on account of higher capital spending in various programmes of the state government. The debt will grow in the medium term but it will be within the sustainability limit, it added.
The status paper stated during FY 2022-23, state government did not opt for market borrowing because funds from low-cost borrowing sources such as OMBADC and CAMPA were available. Therefore, it is projected that the cost of borrowing will be comparatively less in the medium term because low-cost financial sources are available.
However, the budget of 2024-25 projects that the debt requirement of the government will be around Rs 54,000 crore of which Rs 15,300 crore will be from the open market. The chief minister said because of the economic bouyancy, borrowing from the open market is likely to come down. “The debt burden will not be much on the state,” he added.