Amravati: The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) on Friday defended the government’s finance policies after being criticised by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
The YSRCP came down heavily on the opposition with facts and figures, setting the record straight regarding the issue raised.
Andhra Pradesh (AP) finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy countered charges levelled by the opposition saying, “State has done well despite COVID-19,” adding that debt was well in control as compared to when the TDP was in power.
Rajendranath further stressed that the annual debt growth rate between 2014-19 was 19.2 percent and it was brought down to 15.77 by the YSCP government.
“The fiscal deficit of the state was 4 percent of GSDP on average in the previous government while it was 2.10 percent in 2021-22,” he added.
He then attacked the opposition for comparing the state with Sri Lanka and reminded that the government has disbursed 1.46 lakh crore directly into the accounts of beneficiaries in a transparent manner under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes and spent another 44,000 crores for Non-DBT schemes.
Rajendranath went on to say that a total of 27,448 crores of NREGS works were done in the last three years while works worth only 27,340 crores were undertaken during the TDP regime between 2014-19.
“The average rate of interest for borrowing loans in the TDP tenure was 8 percent while it is 7 percent in the current government,” the minister said.
Rajendranath attacked the opposition for its ‘malicious propaganda’ on fourteenth and fifteenth finance commission funds and said that the state government has cleared the pending arrears of Rs 2,200 crore electricity charges of local bodies.
He said the average investment between 2014-19 in large and medium projects was Rs 11,994 crore while it is Rs 13,201 crore in the present government despite the COVID-19 pandemic,”. He added that the exports have improved under the YSRCP.
“The data proves that TDP and its friendly media have been constantly and blatantly misleading the people on state finances,” he concluded
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