The Finance Ministry on Wednesday released a comprehensive paper on government debt which, while presenting the current debt and liability situation, also lays down the road map for general government debt for 2010-11 to 2014-15 covering the award period of the 13th Finance Commission.
As a follow-up of the announcement made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget speech 2010-11, the paper titled ‘Government debt — status and road ahead' also critically analyses the connected statistical information with regard to the debt position of the Centre and the states.
Without making any deviation from the commitments on fiscal consolidation enumerated in the Medium Term Fiscal Policy Statement 2010-11, the proposed road map, worked out on the basis of separate debt targets for the Centre and the States, shows a reduction of 8.1 per cent of the GDP in the consolidated debt for general Government (Centre and States) during 2010-11 to 2014-15. In the terminal year (2014-15), the targeted debt of general Government is 64.9 per cent of the GDP, even lower than the recommended debt of 68 per cent by the 13th Finance Commission, the paper said.
