Terming Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy’s claims on the State’s financial position as misleading,Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Payyavula Keshav on Saturday said he “can prove the government’s fiscal profligacy” and the manner in which it had raised loans more thantwo times the FRBM limit set by the Centre.
Mr. Keshav said it was an open secret that the government had not been able to service the existing debt, and wondered who would give fresh loans in such a precarious situation.
Addressing the media in the virtual mode, Mr. Keshav said that Mr.Rajendranath Reddy should publish a WhitePaperon the government’s finances if the State was not in such dire straits as it appeared to be, and refrain from “self-certification.”
He said Andhra Pradesh got a major relieffrom the loan ceiling, but banks and financial institutions were still reluctant to lend due to the Stat’s “poor track record.” The power utilities werein a complete mess, and many other sectors were teetering on the brink of collapse, Mr. Keshav observed.
He said the government should throw light on the loans taken by it directly and through variouscorporations, and theactual expenditure incurred on development projects and welfare schemes.
Healleged that the Finance Minister made acontradictory statement. On the one hand he said the coronavirus pandemic had caused substantial fall in revenues and on the other he said State’s performance was better in spite of the impact of the pandemic. Mr. Keshav sought to know why the overallrevenue and expenditure details were not being displayed on the Chief Minister’s dashboard.
