PANAJI
Goa’s public debt (total borrowings) have soared to Rs 24,875 crore until June this year, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said in the Goa legislative assembly in a written reply.
The State’s total borrowings in 2019-20 was Rs 16,894 crore when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
In the next financial year, it jumped to Rs 20,729 crore when due to the pandemic, the Centre raised the borrowing limits of States.
By the end of another financial year on March 31, 2022, Goa’s net debt shot up again to Rs 23,271 crore according to Sawant’s reply to a query raised by Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai.
The steep rise in net debt got arrested somewhat in the financial year which ended March 31 this year, when it stood at Rs 24,619 crore before climbing by another Rs 200-odd crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
