GUWAHATI: The outstanding debt of the Assam government increased by over 107% between 2018-19 and 2022-23. Additionally, the growth rate of outstanding liabilities also rose during this period, according to a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report released on Friday.
The CAG report for the 2022-23 fiscal year, which was tabled in the assembly, highlighted that the capital expenditure of the state government declined by more than 20% in FY’23 compared to the previous fiscal year, 2021-22.
The outstanding debt of the state government witnessed a rapid increase of 107.34%, rising from Rs 59,425.61 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 1,23,214.80 crore in 2022-23, as stated in the report.
Furthermore, the growth rate of outstanding liabilities also rose from 20.60% in 2018-19 to 23.32% in 2022-23.
The outstanding liabilities-GSDP ratio also rose from 19.21 percent in 2018-19 to 24.98 percent in FY’23 due to increased borrowings from the open market, the auditor said.
The public debt constituted 81.98 percent of the total borrowing at the end of 2022-23.
During the year, it grew by 26.15 percent, the second highest in the last five-year period, according to CAG.
The average growth rate of public debt, at 23.92%, exceeded the growth rate of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), which was 11.91%, during the year.
“These all indicate that there would be increased pressure on interest payment on public debt in the forthcoming years,” the report added.
The auditor said capital expenditure, which is incurred for creation of fixed infrastructure assets such as roads and buildings, decreased by 20.51 percent from Rs 20,125.83 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 15,999.71 crore in 2022-23.
Revenue expenditure in 2022-23 was Rs 1,01,814.65 crore, constituting 84.88 percent of the total expenditure of Rs 1,19,952.20 crore, the report said.
There was a misclassification of Rs 6,668.99 crore as grants-in-aid given by the state government to different bodies or individual entities were classified as capital expenditure instead of revenue expenditure, resulting in an overstatement of capex.
The committed expenditure of the government, comprising salaries, pensions, and interest payments, exhibited a steady increase of Rs 16,548.72 crore during the five-year period from 2018 to 2023.
The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), however, grew from Rs 3.09 lakh crore in 2018-19 to Rs 4.93 lakh crore in 2022-23, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.27 percent.
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The state could achieve a revenue surplus in only two years in the period between 2018-19 and 2022-23.
The state government successfully managed to keep its fiscal deficit below the target set by the Assam Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (AFRBM) Act in two years in the five years under review.
