The State government is embarking on a resource mobilisation drive to meet the committed expenditure, wipe out the pension dues, and clear least a component of the mounting arrear burden due to government contractors and other sections before Onam.
Finance Department sources peg the overall financial commitment for the next one month at around Rs.8,000 crore.
The government would have to apportion Rs.3,500 crore for footing the salary and pension bill of employees and service pensioners, Rs.300 crore for disbursing their bonus and festival advance, Rs.3,200 crore for effacing the revised social welfare pensions and its arrears for the marginalised sections, Rs.100 crore to pay the festival assistance to employees of non-functional public sector undertakings, and Rs.750 crore to Rs.1,000 crore for clearing at least a component of the dues of government contractors.
Open market borrowing
Though a tightrope walk in the current context, the Finance Department has initiated steps to source funds from available sources to honour the commitments. The government may opt for an open market borrowing within the permitted limits soon.
It has also been proposed to channelise about Rs.1,000 crore from the welfare fund boards. It may also rely on the Kerala State Financial Enterprises and other sources to honour the immediate commitments.
Already Rs.100 crore has been provided to the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation for market intervention during the festival season and funds have been provided for distributing welfare pensions too. The department is learnt to have given a firm commitment to the parent fund boards to return the funds within three months.
Tax collection that had been limping at 7 to 8 per cent earlier has doubled and touched 15 per cent in the past two months. The target is to enhance commercial tax collection to 20 per cent. This increase in collection had instilled the confidence to return the borrowed funds in time and the financial situation would improve within the next one year, sources said.
