PANAJI
The Goa Government, reeling under financial crunch, has raised a total of Rs 1,500 crore through auction of State government securities, till date, for the current financial year 2023-24. The cash-strapped State has notified Rs 250 crore stock for auction on March 26, which will be the final sale before the fiscal end.
Goa had auctioned its last bond of Rs 100 crore on Tuesday “ that recorded the largest weekly auction, wherein 17 States mopped up revenue of Rs 50,200 crore.
With this, the outstanding security bonds available with the State are around Rs 990 crore, whose maturity estimated as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is Rs 18,014 crore by 2038.
“In the absence of GST compensation, the State has to go for sale of its security bonds to meet up its developmental expenditure,” a senior official said adding that the State borrowing for this fiscal is Rs 3,500 crore and that the State is within its limit.
The State has already listed Rs 100 crore security bond for sale for the new financial year 2024-25. The auction will be held on April 25.
To bridge the income-expenditure gap (fiscal deficit), the State borrows from the market through the issue of bonds known as State Development Loans (SDLs), which form a major part of its total outstanding liabilities.
For the current fiscal, the State projected around Rs 17,000 crore towards development expenditure. Also, the State had budgeted Rs 2,610 crore as gross market borrowings and Rs 470 crore loans from the Centre.
Last year 2022-23, the State borrowed over Rs 1,300 crore through the open market, and the borrowing limit was Rs 3,000 crore.
In the financial year 2021-2022, the State government borrowed around Rs 2,700 crore through the open market. The borrowing limit was around Rs 3,200 crore. In 2020-2021, the State borrowed around Rs 3,300 crore through the open market when the borrowing limit was around Rs 4,500 crore.
