Andhra Pradesh: State incur debts due to budget deficit, says Buggana Rajendranath Reddy

Andhra Pradesh finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said that the economy in many countries has collapsed due to covid. He said the situation was such that more debts had to be incurred than the budgeted estimates. Speaking in Vijayawada on Friday, he lamented that the previous government had incurred debts indiscriminately. He commented that the previous government had incurred non-priority expenditure and as of 2014 the AP had a revenue deficit. He said that the revenue has gone down drastically as well as the cost has gone up due coronavirus outbreak. "Hundreds of crores of rupees had to be spent for covid," Buggana asserted.

He said welfare schemes did not stop with the decline in revenue to the government and opined that the Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy said he wanted to help the people even if the state did not have revenue. Revenue in June 2019-20 was Rs. 3,540 crore, while revenue collection in June 2020-21 was Rs. 5,781 crore.

The minister, however, said that they were indebted to provide welfare schemes to the people. He said their welfare schemes were going directly into people's accounts without a brokerage system. The deficit narrowed to minus 12.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2020-21, down from minus 5.5 per cent in the third quarter and minus 3 per cent in the last quarter. From June to December, GST was the second largest tax revenue in the country. He dismissed the TDP's criticism and opined that the increase in debt is due to lack of revenue, which is natural.