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Guwahati, Aug 31: The Assam government’s debt has surged by over 107% between 2018-19 and 2022-23, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), presented at the Assembly on Friday, the last day of the autumn session, revealed.
The report also highlighted a sharp increase in the growth rate of outstanding liabilities during this period, with the debt ballooning from ₹59,425.61 crore to ₹1,23,214.80 crore.
The rising debt has been partly attributed to increased borrowings from the open market, with the outstanding liabilities-to-GSDP ratio also climbing from 19.21% in 2018-19 to 24.98% in FY'23.
Capital expenditure by the state government saw a significant decline of more than 20% in FY'23 compared to 2021-22, the CAG report further noted.
Public debt, which accounted for 81.98% of the total borrowing at the end of 2022-23, grew by 26.15% during the year, marking the second-highest increase in the last five years.
The average growth rate of public debt at 23.92% surpassed the GSDP growth rate of 11.91%, indicating potential future pressure on interest payments.
The report also pointed out a decrease in capital expenditure, which is used for creating fixed infrastructure assets like roads and buildings, by 20.51%, from ₹20,125.83 crore in 2021-22 to ₹15,999.71 crore in 2022-23. Revenue expenditure in 2022-23 stood at ₹1,01,814.65 crore, making up 84.88% of the total expenditure of ₹1,19,952.20 crore.
A misclassification of ₹6,668.99 crore as capital expenditure instead of revenue expenditure led to an overstatement of capital expenses, the CAG report stated. Over the five-year period from 2018-23, committed expenditures such as salaries, pensions, and interest payments increased steadily by ₹16,548.72 crore.
Meanwhile, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) grew from ₹3.09 trillion in 2018-19 to ₹4.93 trillion in 2022-23, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.27%.
Despite this growth, the state managed to achieve a revenue surplus in only two years within the period reviewed and was able to keep the fiscal deficit below the target set under the Assam Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (AFRBM) Act in just two of the five years.
