Veerraju seeks white paper on AP’s financial status

Vijayawada: The BJP in Andhra Pradesh has called upon the YSRC government to publish a white paper on the financial status of the state. Party chief Somu Veerraju wrote to the Chief Minister Jagan on Thursday, saying the people have the right to know about the state’s financial status.

He referred to the reports on raising of loans to carry out the day-to-day administration and pay wages to the employees, in the absence of funds in state exchequer. The state would fall into a debt trap, he feared.

He said residuary AP’s share of inherited debt was Rs 97,123 crore. The quantum of debts rose to Rs 2.62 lakh crore in 2018-19. In the last two years, it went up to Rs 3.73 lakh crore, he said.

During the term of the TD, the government borrowed Rs 1.65 lakh crore in five years. The YSR Congress government raised loans of Rs 1.15 lakh crore in the last two-and-half years. The state government is raising loans worth Rs 5,000 crore every month. In the last two years, the government raised Rs 56,000 crore additionally, he said, and added that as the state required Rs 5,500 crore to meet wages and pension bills per month and Rs 3,500 crore for debt service, it might be sufficient for the state to raise a loan of Rs 5,000 crore per month.