Our Correspondent
Kohima | March 30
Chief Minister Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu today assured the floor of the House that he shall to his best to take concrete steps to bring down the deficit.
In his reply during general discussion on the budget, Dr. Liezietsu who also holds finance portfolio said that the increase in the level of deficit is certainly a matter of concern, and is a problem the state continues to struggle with.
He said the closing deficit for 2016 -17 is Rs. 1657.88 crores, while Rs. 1437.84 crores is the estimated closing deficit for 2017-18.
“There was indeed a sharp growth in the level of deficit during 2016-17 due to the factors beyond our control. One major reason was the reduction in the borrowing limit of the state by Rs.141 crores after the state’s budget has been passed,” he said adding that this was done by the central government on account of the downward revision of the GSDP of the state and the state had no option.
He said there were other unavoidable reasons for increase in deficit, such as additional funds that had to be provided for 10% state share. The state government was compelled to provide an additional amount of Rs. 65.74 crores for 10% state share towards the later part of the financial year to ensure that departments were able to access more funds from GoI, particularly their second and third installments.
“I am confident that this has been a good investment, and it will help us to access even more CSS funds during 2017-18,” he said.
He said that another cause of unavoidable expenditure was in the area of power purchase, for which an additional amount of Rs. 30.97 crores had to be provided.
“With the progress of our society, power consumption is also on the increase. We had also other factors such as reduced deposits in GPF compared to the budgeted amount due to the reducing number of state government employees who are under the old GPF scheme, coupled with substantial withdrawals by retiring employees. This will eventually become zero, and slowly, all employees will come under the New Pension Scheme, fund of which are maintained by an external agency. This is an inevitable reality over which we have no control,” he said.
He added that the state also had to provide additional funds to the state PSUs and department for expenditures that were unavoidable.
“Ultimately, I can only say that despite adverse circumstances beyond our control resulting in increased deficit, I believe that we have put in place a better platform to facilitate better flow of funds from the centre,” he said adding this will help to offset the deficits that have been incurred in the in the interest of the state.
About the high level of debt repayment raised by MLA Mmhonlumo Kikon, he said “Let me assure that all our borrowings are within the prescribed limit of 3% of GSDP, and taken only with the prior approval of the Government of India.”
