HYDERABAD: Indicating that the government is getting ready to tighten its belt, finance minister of Andhra Pradesh, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu has said that his priority would be to contain the expenditure of the government which is facing a deficit. ‘’The truncated AP is in the grip of economic crisis. If we can’t control the government expenditure, we cannot bail out the state from this grave situation. So, I am planning to curb unproductive expenditure and plug the loopholes in the system to mobilise finances,” he said. In an informal interaction with newsmen in his chambers on the Assembly premises here on Thursday, Yanamala indicated at initiating austerity measures to keep the public expenditure under control. He, however, made it clear that his government has no plans to impose additional taxes on common man. The government would not increase existing taxes to mobilise financial resources, he added. Acknowledging that they are walking a tightrope in a cash-stripped state, the senior lawmaker accepted that it would be a Herculean task for the government to strike a balance between revenues and expenditure by fulfilling all its promises that were made to people during elections. At the same time, the finance minister made it clear that the government was firm on implementing the crop loan waiver scheme come what may. When asked about the modalities of the farm loan waiver, Yanamala replied, ‘’We have formulated a plan on how to effectively implement the scheme so as to do justice to all the farmers. We are expecting the interim report of the committee, set up to formulate the modalities of crop loan waiver by June 22. Once the report is submitted to the chief minister, the government will give clarity on the modalities of the scheme.’’ He divulged that the state government would plead with the Centre to amend Fiscal Responsibility and Budg e t Mana g ement (FRBM) Act and relax certain fiscal parameters in view of the state’s shaky financial position. As the revenue deficit of the state is as high as Rs 16,000 crore, amending the FRBM Act would pave way for it to increase its borrowing capacity. Recalling that he had introduced several economic reforms and experimented with innovative budgetary proposals during his first term as the finance minister in Chandrababu Naidu’s government in the then undivided AP, Yanamala said this time also he is ready to do some experiments to improve the financial position of cash-stripped Seemandhra. He said as already announced earlier, the government would begin releasing white papers on each department such as finance, irrigation, infrastructure, agriculture and power so as to give a detailed account of the present situation in those departments to people of Seemandhra. ‘’For example, in the white paper, which will be released on the status of irrigation sector, we will inform people about the present status of the ongoing irrigation projects,” he added.