The State government has said that the economic slowdown was a double blow to it as, on one hand, it will get lesser devolution of taxes by the Centre and, on the other, its own revenue growth will be impacted badly.
A top finance official said in the customary media interaction after the presentation of the Budget that the entire Budget preparation was made factoring in slowdown. Finance Minister T. Harish Rao was not present as he had taken over only on Sunday and was not part of the Budget preparation.
The official said the State government had spent ₹ 30,000 crore of Budget last year on irrigation projects and other schemes. The amount could be of the same order this year.
He added that the debt servicing, mostly on open market borrowings, was ₹ 11,000 crore per annum. It included ₹ 2,000 crore on Mission Bhagiratha over which the budgeted expenditure of ₹ 28,000 crore was already spent.
He also said the government was focussed on clearing pending payments. The Chief Minister will take decisions on budget releases as the situation developed in the background of slowdown.
To a question, he said the government had not worked out guidelines for payment of unemployment allowance which was an election promise.