PANAJI
Goa’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), one of the key indicators of the State’s revenue, grew by 9.73 per cent in 2022-23, a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said on Wednesday.
The report, tabled on the last day of the Assembly session, also mentioned that revenue surplus increased from Rs 59 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 2,400 crore in 2022-23, while fiscal deficit decreased from Rs 2,624 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 1,027 crore in 2022-23.
As per the report, the GSDP grew from Rs 71,853 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 90,642 crore in 2022-23. The Budget Outlay of the State also saw a rise from Rs 19,024 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 26,366 crore in 2022-23.
“There was 9.73 per cent growth in GSDP over the previous year 2021-22,” it said while detailing the finances, budgetary management, quality of accounts, financial reporting practices and other matters relevant to State finances.
While further elaborating on the GSDP’s increased growth rate from 3.61 per cent in 2018-19 to 9.73 per cent in 2022-23, the CAG pointed out that it rose at a slower pace than the GDP (16.06 per cent) as well as projections made by 15th Finance Commission (FC XV) (12 per cent) for the State.
The financial performance for 2022-23 revealed that tax revenue surpassed the budget estimates by 22.05 per cent and constituted 12.68 per cent of the GSDP. Notably, own tax revenue exceeded projections by 25.41 per cent. However, non-tax revenue fell short at 75.48 per cent against the Government’s projections.
Further, the revenue receipts grew at 20.99 per cent. “The percentage of revenue receipts over GSDP improved from 17.29 per cent in 2021-22 to 19.07 per cent in 2022-23. The tax revenue (own tax revenue plus State’s share in Union taxes and duties) of the State increased by 25.43 per cent over the previous year whereas, State’s own tax revenue increased by 34.83 per cent during the same period,” reads the report, tabled by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, also State’s Finance Minister.
The total expenditure comprising revenue expenditure, capital expenditure and loans; and advances of Goa has increased from Rs 16,912 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 18,313 crore, registering an increase of 8.28 per cent over the previous year.
However, CAG observed that the State failed to regularise excess expenditure to Rs 12,505 crore from 2008 to 2021-22, and Rs 119.61 crore in 2022-23.
“It was observed that excess expenditure amounting to Rs 119.61 crore during the current year as well as Rs 12,505.45 crore for the period from 2008-09 to 2021-22 was pending regularisation in terms of Article 205 of the Constitution,” it said.
The revenue receipts, from 2018-19 to 2022-23, grew by 51 per cent from Rs 11,438 crore to Rs 17,284 crore. Comparatively, capital receipts which consisted mostly of public debt receipts, registered a marginal increase of Rs 44 crore, from Rs 2,534 crore to Rs 2,578 crore during 2018-23.
A significant portion of the revenue receipts, accounting 68 per cent, during 2022-23 came from the State’s own resources, while central tax transfers and grants-in-aid together contributed 32 per cent.
