The government will take steps to shore up its revenue in the wake of the ₹6,000-crore cut in its annual borrowing limit for the current financial year by the Union government, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has said.
A three-pronged strategy of setting up an enforcement squad, surveillance on the inter-State borders, and action against erring traders were announced by Dr. Isaac to address the steep fall in revenue collection while replying to the debate on the Kerala Appopriation Bill (2), 2019 in Assembly on Tuesday.
The Minister said he had convened a meeting of officials to decide on the way forward to increase the revenue collection and achieve at least 14% in the current financial year. Sharing the concern of the financial crisis gripping the State, Dr. Isaac said the revenue collection remained static at around 10% while the expenditure had been over 15%.
The Plan expenditure for 2018-19 is 76% compared to 113% in 2017-18 and 102% in 2016-17. The setbacks in the real estate sector, crisis in West Asia, and the state of the farming sector of the State are the main concerns.
Kerala is facing a crisis owing to recession. The government is trying for fiscal consolidation through the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). He allayed the fears of the Opposition UDF over the repayment of the loans being taken for the ₹50,000-crore KIIFB-funded projects in the State.
Salary delay
The Ministers said the delay in the disbursement of salary to government personnel was owing to glitches in the server of the bank and not because of financial crisis.
The Minister abruptly cut short his reply to the three-hour debate as the House witnessed a verbal duel between the treasury benches and the Opposition over the suggestion from Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan to avoid replying to queries of the legislators in between the speech.
Later, the House passed the Bill.