THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance minister Dr T M Thomas Isaac has painted an unsettling picture of the state of finances. “The treasury has just Rs 700 crore left,” the finance minister said, after he met with finance, expenditure and taxes secretaries at Vizhinjam Guest House here on Friday.
This is alarming considering that salary payments have to be done in a few days. However, Isaac assured that salary, pension or welfare payments would not be affected. Putting the situation in perspective, Isaac said: “The exchequer is almost drained out even after the UDF government had already borrowed Rs 2,800 crore from the open market in less than two months this fiscal.”
The total liability will be Rs 5,784 crore if payments that are to be made urgently are also taken into account; this includes pension arrears, contractors liabilities and money kept apart in the ledger account to be transferred to departments. Pension arrears alone tots up to Rs 806 crore.
Further, Isaac said that the Treasury had Rs 2,700 crore when the Oommen Chandy government came to power in 2011. “What's more, we had not borrowed a single rupee from the open market,” he added. The finance minister said that the present situation was reminiscent of the fiscal crisis that plagued the state between 1990 and 1993.
