Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya admitted on Thursday that the State’s debt burden would soon cross `1 lakh crore but claimed that substantial amount had been utilised in capital expenditure.
Malaiya told reporters here while presenting the annual report card of his departments, “There is a value standing against the debt that has been incurred. Meanwhile, total outstanding loan has reduced from 33.71 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2003-04 to 22.69 per cent in 2013-14. It is expected to be around 22.37 per cent in 2014-15.” Malaiya further said, “On the other hand, the burden of interest payment has reduced from 22.44 per cent of the GSDP to 8.19 per cent in 2013-14. It is likely to be near 6.70 per cent in this fiscal.” Malaiya informed that fiscal deficit has been contained under the limits prescribed by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act since 2006-07. So far, this year it is around 1.66 per cent of the GSDP.