Kerala Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has hit out at the Centre for its failure to provide timely financial assistance for States to take up the fight against COVID-19.
Talking to the media after a visit to a newly opened Janakeeya fair price hotel on Sunday, he said the Kerala State government was facing a revenue loss of ₹15,000 crore this month due to the lockdown. State governments, he said, were forced to borrow at high rates of interest.
“Even though the repo rate has been brought down to 4.4%, we have to pay interest at the rate of 9%. The Centre should borrow from the RBI and use the money to refinance States,” he said.
