Former Finance Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, said in a press release that the decline of Andhra Pradesh (AP)’s rank in fiscal health from 8 in 2022 to 11 now according to a Deutsche Bank report lends credence to the Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) argument that the Jagan Mohan Reddy government’s mismanagement of the finances was pushing the State into a classic debt trap.
“Instead of finding a way out of the mess, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy is making people believe that the economy is making positive strides by reeling off wrong figures, even as neighbouring Telangana has vastly improved its position in spite of being relatively less resourceful,” Mr. Ramakrishnudu said in a press release on Monday.
The TDP veteran insisted that Andhra Pradesh’s economy was in a deplorable condition as far as the Gross State Domestic Product, fiscal deficit, tax revenue and other parameters were concerned. Both the fiscal deficit and Revenue Deficit (RD) were on a steep upward curve in the last four and half years, he said.
“The RD was ₹16,000 crore in 2018 and it had since increased to ₹40,000 crore and the open market borrowings went up from ₹2.50 lakh crore in 2018 to ₹4.42 lakh crore as on date. A staggering ₹30,000 crore was going to debt servicing alone,” Mr. Ramakrishnudu said.
He further stated that the YSR Congress government had imposed a total burden of ₹57,000 crore on electricity consumers and was now looking to eat into the funds belonging to employees of the power utilities.
“The State government is preparing to raise fresh loans amounting to ₹11,600 crore by auctioning the bonds floated by it in the market. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy owes an explanation for all these failures which have pushed the State to the verge of bankruptcy,” the TDP leader added.
