Finance Minister K. N. Balagopal on Thursday ruled out the possibility of including any more projects under the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).
The State government had originally envisaged projects worth ₹50,000 crore under KIIFB. However, projects worth more than ₹63,000 crore have been listed so far, Mr. Balagopal said, replying to questions in the Assembly on Thursday.
“'I wish to inform the House that there are limitations to loading any more projects on to KIIFB. So we also need to explore new schemes, which we will try to do,” he said.
To a related question, he said that 903 projects with an outlay of ₹63,259.32 crore had been approved by KIIFB so far.
On State’s finances
On the status of State finances, he said that the combination of flawed economic policies of the Centre, delays occurring in the transfer of GST compensation, and the economic downturn triggered by COVID-19 had adversely affected State revenues in the current fiscal also.
The State government has given shape to to short and long term measures for revitalising the economy. Energising production in the State’s agriculture and manufacturing sectors was critical for overcoming the present crisis, he said.
He also called for a concerted stand against global trade pacts such as the ASEAN agreement which have proven detrimental to the interests of the country. The matter was brought to the notice of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during his recent meeting with her in New Delhi, Mr. Balagopal said.
