Mumbai: The finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar lauded the efforts of his government to keep the debt of Rs 4.14 lakh crore under control and said that it is under fiscal benchmark. He admitted, after implementing the seventh pay commission, the state has been financially stressed. However, after Integrated Goods and Services Tax (GST) and State GST was implemented, the revenues decreased.
“The evaluation of state’s financial positions has to be made scientifically. Instead of alleging the state is under financial strain and is heading towards bankruptcy is highly exaggerated,” said the minister. Mungantiwar added, for the period March 2018-2019, the debt predictions were slated for Rs 4,61,807 crore.
This would have forced the state to take a loan of Rs 54,996 crore from the centre. A loan of Rs 11,990 crore has been taken, but is restricted to only one third of its estimate. The total debt amount reduced by Rs 47,396 crores. Mungantiwar said, the state is estimated to be 14.82 percent of the country’s GDP as per the revised estimates.
Since the prevailing fiscal indicators, are below 25 per cent of GDSP, the financial position of the state is being considered. This government has been successful in keeping the quantum of the debt below 15 percent of GDSP for the year 2018-19.
