VIJAYAWADA: Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath lambasted former TDP minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu for claiming that Andhra Pradesh was heading to become another Nigeria or Zimbabwe.In a press release issued on Sunday, Buggana alleged that Yanamala was making a hue and cry over State finances only to ensure his own survival in the political sphere and nothing more. If not, it could only be for getting a pat on the back from his party chief N Chandrababu Naidu, he observed.
The Finance Minister said the TDP senior leader, who expressed concern over the State heading to become another Sri Lanka earlier, had now picked up a new tune -- it would become another Nigeria or Zimbabwe. “TDP leaders seem to lack the word -- Positive Approach -- in their dictionary,” he remarked.
Buggana said Yanamala was repeatedly pointing out the situation in 2020-21, willfully forgetting that it was the Covid-19 pandemic year. He said it was not a secret as what happened and why it happened in that fiscal. “Because of the pandemic, the State lost its own tax revenue to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore and spent an additional Rs 7,130 crore to combat the pandemic. Our focus was more on protecting people and their purchasing power by implementing welfare schemes,” he said.
Despite the loss of revenue, the State spent Rs 57,512 crore on welfare measures through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), which had never happened before in the history of the State. He said the public debt of the State increased by 19.6% between 2014 and 2019, while between 2019 and 22, the public debt, including those taken by public sector units, increased by only 15.5% and one should not forget that out of three years, two years were Covid pandemic years.
“Though there were no financial problems during those five years, the Telugu Desam government borrowed at the growth rate of 19.6%. If we compare CAGR (compounded annual growth rate), for the period of 2014-19, the Central government’s debt growth was 9.89% and that of Andhra Pradesh was 16.80%. For the period 2019-22, CAGR of the Central government was 14.37%, while that of the State was 13.28% only,” the Finance Minister explained.
Buggana accused the Telugu Desam government of borrowing Rs 17,000 crore more in violation of Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management norms and the same was faulted by the Union Ministry of Finance and that affected the borrowing of the State at present.
Stating that he was not aware of the fact from where Yanamala had arrived at the conclusion that the State had a debate burden of Rs 8 lakh crore, the Finance Minister revealed that the YSRC government had taken a total of Rs 1,71,176 crore loans, including the debts taken by public sector units, and every rupee spent by the government was accounted for. “These are all facts, which were explained by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on the floor of the State Assembly,” he asserted. Buggana accused the previous TDP regime of keeping bills worth Rs 40,000 crore pending, thus burdening the subsequent YSRC government.