HYDERABAD: Not to be left behind its bete noire Andhra Pradesh in its efforts to garner more funds for its flagship programmes, the Telangana government is wooing international lending agencies like World Bank. In a step to achieve this goal, the TS on Monday approached the NITI Aayog with a request to extend the annual borrowing limit to 3.5 percent.
It was N Chandrababu Naidu, as the chief minister of undivided AP, who managed to get funds from the WB, though he attracted vehement criticism from Left parties. Toeing the same line, the Telangana government is also making allout efforts to tap WB funds. The advantage in getting funds from the WB is the low interest rate though it imposes certain conditions to fund government schemes.
“The interest rate is very low for World Bank loans compared to nationalised banks. But, the loans from WB will come under Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act,” said a source with the Finance Department.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has shot off a letter to NITI Ayog vice-chairperson Arvind Panagariay reiterating the state’s demand to raise the annual borrowing limit from 3 to 3.5 percent. “Relax the current annual borrowing limits from 3 to 3.5 percent of GSDP as recommended by the 14th Finance Commission (FC),” Rao said.
The Finance Commission had recommended flexibility to the extent of 0.5 percent on fulfilling three conditions “Telangana fulfils these three conditions,” Rao said in his letter.