Centre may fund revenue gap: PV Ramesh

Hyderabad: AP principal finance secretary P.V. Ramesh has expressed the hope that  the Centre will release funds to the state before the end of the present financial year to enable it overcome the revenue deficit of the previous financial year.

Ramesh told the media here on Saturday that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu met Prime  Minister Modi five times to get central funds for the state. Finance minister Yanamala  Rama Krishnudu met Union finance minister Arun Jaitley 10 times.

He himself met Union  finance department officials about 100 times, pleading with them for release of funds. At  the end of the current financial year, the state’s revenue deficit would be of Rs 7,000 crore. The Centre has released about Rs 1,000 crore more this year.

He said the state’s 2016-17 annual budget will be realistic and the goal-based. A  projection of 18 per cent growth in state revenue is expected in the next financial year.

This financial year, it is of 14.15 per cent. The PFC said the revenue deficit in the previous financial year was about Rs 16,000 crore.

The Centre has released Rs 2,303 crore and the state is pressing it to release the  remaining Rs 13,700 crore. “We are expecting some funds before March,” he said.

“The  Special Cat-egory status is not a pan-acea. If this is announced, AP will get 90 per cent  of the central assistance as grant and 90 per cent of the external aided project (EAP) funds too as grant, and there will be no incentives.”

He said the Centre will fix the limit of borrowings at about Rs 17,800 crore in the current financial year and the state has borrowed Rs 14,000 crore till today.