The Andhra Pradesh Budget for the 2022-23 financial year will be presented to the Legislature on Friday, at a time when the state’s fiscal management is under a cloud.
For 2021-22, the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government last year presented a Budget with an estimated expenditure of Rs 2.29 lakh crore but the statutory auditor, CAG, found glaring lapses in the state’s budget management.
In a recent letter to the state government, the Principal Accountant General (PAG) has pointed out that in 124 cases a staggering amount of Rs 94,399.04 crore was spent “without any budget provision” in the first three quarters of the ongoing financial year.
“Many departments failed to adhere to the government instructions, besides non-adhering to the code provisions, resulting in improper or excessive budgeting,” the PAG observed, in a letter to the Special Chief Secretary (Finance).
In 2,214 cases, he pointed out, “no expenditure” has been incurred though there was a provision of Rs 30,327.26 crore in the budget.
According to CAG’s accounts up to January 2022 during the current year, the state government did not furnish requisite information on borrowings from the public account and also the guarantees for loans secured by state-owned corporations.
These lapses apart, the spiralling revenue deficit, coupled with a high percentage of fiscal deficit, has been a major cause for concern.
According to the CAG’s accounts, AP’s revenue deficit in the first ten months of the current FY stood at Rs 45,978.23 crore, which was 919.55 per cent over the budget estimate of only Rs 5,000 crore.
The fiscal deficit touched Rs 58,669.79 crore, as against the estimated Rs 37,029.79 crore, indicating that the state in just ten months borrowed Rs 21,640 crore more than the sum the Legislature authorised.
The Jagan Mohan Reddy government attributed this to “the current chaotic period” as the Covid-19 pandemic restricted economic activity.
“The actual achievement as compared to what was budgeted reflects the effectiveness of the budgeting exercise and during turbulent times, there is an impaired ability to effectively budget,” Chief Minister’s Special Secretary Duvvuri Krishna noted.
He said the government was “adhering to the limits” stipulated by the Central government and also the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management norms.
“The liabilities contracted by the present government are only contributing to socio-economic progress, be it for construction of hospitals, infrastructure, improvement of schools, direct benefit transfers, roads, etc.,” Krishna claimed.
Significantly, the CAG accounts reveal that the state’s finances improved largely as compared to 2020-21, with revenue accruals touching Rs 1,11,792 crore, including the state’s own tax revenue of Rs 80,027.88 crore in the first ten months.
However, the overall income is only 63 per cent of the budget estimate of Rs 1,77,196 crore.
Revenue expenditure has also peaked to Rs 1,57,770 crore, of which over Rs 50,000 crore went for the numerous freebie schemes alone.
The state, however, incurred capital expenditure of only Rs 11,579.47 crore (37.88 per cent) of the estimated Rs 30,571 crore in ten months.
In this backdrop, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath will present the 2022-23 Budget at 11 AM on Friday, with indications that the size could be a little bigger than last year’s Rs 2.29 lakh crore.
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