Debt/ GSDP ratio at 35.18 % in 2021-22
Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 29
The outstanding public debt of Nagaland Government increased rapidly by Rs 3,602.84 crore to Rs 11,407.41 crore in 2021-22 from Rs7,804.57 crore in 2017-18, informed the latest Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India’s State Finances Audit Report of the Comptroller relating to the Government of Nagaland for the year ended March 31, 2022.
During the same period, the Debt/ GSDP (State Gross Domestic Product) ratio increased from 32.00 to 35.18 %, stated the report laid in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly on March 28.
During 2021-22, the outstanding public debt (Rs 11,407.41 crore), increased by Rs 758.38 crore (7.12 %) compared to the previous year (Rs10,649.03 crore), it added.
As per the CAG, between 6.15-7.50% of the Revenue Receipts were used by the State for payment of interest on the outstanding public debt while the average rate of interest ranged between 7.40-8.40% during the last five-years period from 2017-18 to 2021-22.
Meanwhile, a comparison of key fiscal aggregates in 2021-22 and 2020-21 informed that public debt receipts decreased by 23.84% while repayment of public debt decreased by 19.73%.
As per the CAG, the bulk of public debt of the Nagaland Government was internal debt consisting of market borrowings, loans from LIC, GIC, NABARD, etc at Rs 10,794.87 crore constituting 94.63% of the total debt.
The rest, Rs 612.54 crore, were loans from the Government of India.
The CAG report further informed that the maturity profile of outstanding stock of public debt as on March 31, 2022 indicated that out of outstanding public debt of Rs 11,407.41 crore, 48.23% or Rs 5,502.20 crore needs to be repaid within the next seven years while the remaining 51.77% or Rs 5,905.21 crore is in the maturity bracket of more than seven years.
Since the calculations of repayment of public debt and interest thereupon have been done based on the Outstanding public debt as on March 31, 2022, the repayment of public debt and interest thereupon is bound to increase in view of the trends of borrowings by the State Government, it added.
Moreover, as Rs 10,215.03 crore out of Rs11,407.41 crore, crore was the principal amount of market loan taken by the State, it is liable to pay an interest of Rs 5,148.04 crore at the end of repayment of these loans, if the loans are repaid as per the maturity profile, it added.
Accordingly, the CAG advised the State Government to ensure that mobilised debt resources are used adequately for incurring capital expenditure for creation of assets.
The increasing trends of Revenue Expenditure be corrected by identifying potential wasteful expenditure and adopting economy measures across departments, it said.
Own non tax revenues need to be augmented to meet the interest on debt liabilities, it added.
