A white paper on Kerala’s finances published by the Congress-led Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) on Saturday said the state is in utter financial crisis and blamed the LDF government for taking the state into debt trap.
Releasing the white paper here, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan said that the fiscal indicators show that the state is in a danger spot.
“The key fiscal indicators point to a precarious scenario for Kerala whose debt liabilities have soared to approximately Rs.4 lakh crore,” Satheesan said
The white paper, prepared by a UDF-appointed subcommittee headed by CP John and released ahead of the February 3 Budget presentation by Finance Minister KN Balagopal, says that that revenue deficit rose from Rs 9,657 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 23,176 crore (Revised estimates for 2021-22).
Fiscal deficit increased from Rs 17,818 crore to Rs 37,656.48 crore during the same period. The total debt of the state, which stood at Rs 1,57,370 crore, soared to Rs 3,33,592.17 crore and the per-head debt from Rs 46,078.04 to Rs 1,05,000, the white paper further says.
“The RBI forecast indicates that the debt-GSDP ratio will touch 38.2 per cent by 2026-27. But it has already crossed that mark in 2022-23,” said Leader of VD Satheesan
Stating that the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) has become a total failure, Satheesan said that the agency (KIIFB) announced projects worth Rs 70,000 crore within five years but in the last six years, projects worth only Rs 6,000 crore were implemented.