Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has welcomed the decision of the Central government to increase the borrowing limit of States from 3% to 5% of the revenue.
In a statement here Sunday, he said that only about half of the revenue fall in the State would be addressed through this. The expected borrowings possible is ₹18,087 crore.
“The borrowing limit should be based on the State’s revenues approved in the Union Budget, and not based on the current situation. It should be ensured that the States can borrow at affordable rates, or they should be allowed to borrow from the Reserve Bank of India. The Centre should also provide the outstanding GST amount. The State is against imposing conditions on the drawing of loans. There is no point in imposing such conditions on spending, which are according to the priorities of each State,” he said.
Dr. Isaac said the State was not against improving ease of doing business, but some of the steps announced by the government in the name of this would end up destroying the entire public sector. He said the State was also against the reforms in the power sector. A time of crisis should not be used to bring in such reforms, he said.
