Opposition misleading people on GSDP, flays Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy

Vijayawada: At a time when AP was moving forward to achieve two-digit growth, theopposition parties were making baseless allegations on the growth in the State, said Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy stoutly defending the financial position in the State in spite of the adverse conditions due to various reasons including Covid-19.

Sharply reacting to the comments of former minister and senior TDP leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu while addressing the media on Saturday, Minister Buggana in a statement released from the Secretariat on Sunday, stated that it was not proper to calculate the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at the present rates.

The Minister pointed out that the State stood in fourth place in the country after YS Jagan Mohan Reddy became Chief Minister by improving the GSDP rate to 7.23 per cent. During the financial year 2021-22, there has been incredible growth in the tax revenue, he said, citing that there was 34 per cent growth of tax revenue from April to November of 2021 compared with April to November of 2020.

Defending the loans raised by the State government, the Finance Minister recollected that they were all as per the guidelines issued by the Central government and also FRBM Act.

The State government has been effectively implementing the direct cash transfer benefit better than the other States in the country, he said and challenged the TDP leaders to claim in which aspect the State was first or second during their regime.

"During the last two-and-a-half years, the people benefited with Rs 1.24 lakh crore through direct cash transfer," he pointed out.

The Finance Minister narrated the development agenda of the State government which included education, health, women empowerment, agriculture and irrigation apart from industrialisation.