‘State’s debt burden will shoot up to ₹6.54 lakh crore by 2024’

Its credit rating has touched a new low, says Yanamala

TDP Polit Bureau member and former Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu has accused the State government of mismanaging the finances.

“Andhra Pradesh will face a severe economic crisis if the government fails to take corrective steps. The total burden of debts and interest on the State will be ₹6,54,500 crore by 2024,” Mr. Ramakrishnudu said in a statement on Sunday.

In one year, the YSRCP government had taken massive loans that were equal to the total loans availed of by the previous governments in Andhra Pradesh over a period of 30 years, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said.

Observing that the State’s finances had become unmanageable, the TDP leader said Andhra Pradesh stood in the sixth place in the list of States that borrowed highest loans.

“The credit rating of Andhra Pradesh has touched a new low. In his first 14 months rule, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has become popular as a ‘reverse growth CM’ for adopting reverse tendering and cancelling power purchase agreements,” he alleged.

The outstanding debts, as per the budget figures, had touched ₹3,04,500 crore (including the loans raised by the YSRCP government) by 2019-20. With the government availing ₹70,000 crore per year as loan, the total debt would touch ₹3.50 lakh crore by 2024, and the overall burden would reach ₹6,54,500 crore, he said.

The credit rating was badly hit because of heavy dependence on loans, the TDP leader observed.

‘Goodwill lost’

“In the future, nobody will come forward to lend loans to the State. It will become bankrupt due to lack of development,” the former Finance Minister said.

All the goodwill the State had earned as a favourite investment destination was lost because of the “discredited and chaotic policies” of Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, he alleged.