PANJIM
A slowdown in the mining industry and recent losses due the GST implementation are believed to have taken a toll on the State's total debt, which is now estimated at around Rs 13,300 crore and having grown sharply over the last five-and-half years.
According to a written reply by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in the assembly earlier this year, the loan amount was Rs 12,433.04 crore up to March and latest figures now reveal that the debt has reached about Rs 13,300 crore.
This debt is expected to go even higher, with the government set to take another Rs 200 crore loan this month. Estimates have further revealed this loan amount could further go up to about Rs 13,700 crore by March 2018.
What is significant is the fact that the loans have risen sharply by about Rs 6,428 crore in five-and-half
years.
When the BJP came to power in 2012, the debt was Rs 6,872 crore and this figure rose steadily to Rs 8,070 crore (2013), Rs 9 032 crore (March 2014), Rs 10,187 crore (June 2015), Rs 11,344.19 crore (March 2016) and Rs 12,433 crore (March 2017).
PER CAPITA INCOME: In one of the written replies to the question of Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, Chief Minister said the per capita income of Goa was Rs 4,25,084 in 2016-17, according to information by Planning and Statistics Department. Parrikar added that the state's per capita debt is Rs 81,764.
Going by official figures, Goa's per capita income of Rs 4.25 lakh would easily leapfrog Delhi to be the state with the highest per capita income. Delhi's per capita income was an estimated Rs 3,03 lakh for 2016-17, while Goa's highest per capita income of Rs 4.25 lakh would be four times higher than the national average of Rs 1,03,818 for the year 2016-17.
