The off-budget borrowings had increased by more than 4.5 times in 2014-19, during which period entities such as the Civil Supplies Corporation contracted debt to the tune of ₹20,000 crore, said Duvvuri Krishna, Special Secretary to CM (finance and economic affairs).
Mr. Krishna insisted that the intention of the opposition parties to mislead the people that the present government’s policies led to an unchecked increase in off-budget borrowings was apparent.
Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Mr. Krishna said former Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu made a wrong allegation that the government was making off-budget borrowings amounting to ₹1,00,000 crore every year.
Over the last three years, the outstanding State government-guaranteed PSU debt had increased from ₹63,664.64 crore to ₹1,17,503 crore, even after including borrowings that were given conditional guarantee and not crystalised as of date.
Strangely, Mr. Ramakrishnudu, during whose tenure the off-budget borrowings had increased by more than 450%, commented that the borrowings were not desirable and they indicated the financial distress prevailing in the State.
Referring to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)’s observations pertaining to 2020-21, Mr. Krishna said the Finance Department provided a detailed explanation on the nature of the expenditure.
The stated amount of ₹48,384 crore was mostly in the form of adjustments and, of that amount, only ₹224.73 crore was in the nature of cash transactions, he said.
The Comprehensive Financial Management System was still in the process of stabilisation as some of its modules were yet to be developed, and it was due to the need to prevent any delay in the finalisation of accounts that some adjustment entries were carried out, he added.
The nature of each entry was described in detail and placed in the public domain by the State’s Finance Ministry. Therefore, the opposition parties’ claim that a sum of ₹48,384 crore had been siphoned off was untrue.
