PANAJI
Goa government has set a target to reduce its fiscal deficit to 27 per cent by March 31, 2026 as directed under the revised Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act 2003. State is working on a roadmap to reduce the debt-GSDP ratio, which currently stood at 29 per cent by end of fiscal year 2023-24.
According to NITI Aayog’s recent report, under the revised FRMB Act 2003, Goa has to ensure that by March 31, 2026, the ratio of Debt to Gross State Domestic Product is brought down to 27 per cent, and thereafter bring it below 25 per cent.
Sources informed that FRMB Act mandates that the total liabilities should not exceed a certain percentage of GDP and since 2015, State has been asked to bring it down to 27 per cent and maintain it below 25 per cent.
Sources said that since 2020-21, Goa has been able to achieve lot of success in this regard with curbs on expenditure, borrowings, revenue leakages, etc. “The debt to GSDP ratio which was as high as 35 per cent in 2020-21, has come down to 29 per cent in 2023-24 and State intends to bring to below 27 per cent in 2025-26,” sources said.
“The path is very clear. The debt-GDP ratio will be on a declining path, depending upon what growth rate, stimulus measure or further consolidation measures we adopt and the Chief Minister is very clear that our debt ratio has to continue to drop,” sources added.
According to the Economic Survey 2024-25, State’s public debt as on March 31, 2024 stood at Rs 26,605.28 crores as against Rs 23,971.58 crore by March 31, 2024.
During the recent Budget session, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the State has adopted a three-pronged approach through the medium-term fiscal plan. “Restricting expenditure within budgeted revenues, restricting borrowings, and restructuring of high-interest loans; due to the implementation of these steps, the debt-to-GSDP ratio has been declining over the years,” he said in a written statement.
As per the data, in 2023-24, the state’s fiscal deficit to GSDP stood at 2.02 per cent as against the cap of 3 per cent. In 2021-22, the fiscal deficit was at 3.23 per cent as against the limit of 4 per cent set under the Goa FRBM Act.
The State has also managed to curb its borrowing. As against the set ceiling of Rs 4,500 crore for the financial year 2024-25, Goa has borrowed only Rs 1,050 crore.
In 2023-24, the State borrowed Rs 2,550 crore as against the set target of Rs 3,300 crore. The borrowings are basically to fund the revenue gap to boost economic and development growth.
