A white paper on Kerala state Finance, which Finance Minister K.M Mani presented in the Asssembly on Tuesday 19th paints a picture of the Kerala government's finances. The paper suggests amending the Kerala Fiscal Reforms Act of 2003 to enforce financial discipline in the budget exercise to rein in revenue deficit and fiscal deficit to the levels stipulated by the 13th Finance Commission.
The white paper says that the management of revenue gap from hereon should combine tightening of the belt with increasing the economic efficiency of expenditure with out compromising on the social commitment" and other imperatives before the government. The white paper says the previous government had saddled the present government with a net gurdens of Rs 5,064 crore of commitments for the current financial year. Additional commitments for the year, including those on pay and pension revision, came to Rs 10,197 crore, the white paper says. The total debts of the state government, which were Rs 26,950 crore in 2001-02 reached the level of Rs 78,673 crore as of march this year.
Former Finance Minister T.M Thomas Isaac on Tuesday (19th July) justified high-cost treasury deposits and maintained that holing such funds proved to be a cushion in his budgets for committed expenses.
Prof. John Kurakar
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