15 to 20 % hike in AP State budget for FY 2019-20 anticipated

Amaravati: As TDP claims that it would be visionary budget in view of the upcoming elections, the State government is likely to present the vote-on-account budget with an estimation of roughly between Rs 2.2 lakh crore to Rs 2.3 lakh crore for the 2019-20 financial year.

The officials at the Finance Department have been saying that the Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu is contemplating to enhance the budget by more than 15 to 20 per cent on the his previous budget.

That means, the interim budget could be estimated between Rs 2.2 lakh crore to Rs 2.3 lakh crore for the 2019-20 Financial Year. This is an increase of Rs 28,000 crore to Rs 38,000 crore over the budget estimations of 2018-19.

The officials are of the opinion that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will give details about the resources for the additional amount of at least Rs 35,000 crore needed for implementing the new schemes.

Ramakrishnudu presented Budget at Rs. 1,91,063.61 crore for the Financial Year 2018-19. It has enhanced to Rs 2,05,777.20 crore as per the Revised Estimations for that Financial Year, according to a statement of State government on ``Details of Fiscal Deficit and its financing through borrowings of the AP.”

It is worth to mention here that, Ramakrishnudu estimated an amount of Rs 156987.57 crore budget for the FY 2017-18 and the actual budget for the same FY was enhanced to Rs 185258.54 crore by the end of the year. He placed Rs 135590.02 as estimated budget for the FY 2016-17 and by the end of the FY, the actual budget was 167646.27.

It can be mentioned that Rs 21,397 crore increased from FY 2016-17 to FY 2017-18, roughly 15.7 per cent increased over previous budget. An amount Rs 34,076 crore was enhanced from FY 2016-17 to FY 2017-18, which means 21.7 per cent increase over the earlier budget.

Now, the officials at the Finance Department maintain that the Finance Minister will enhance 15 to 20 percent of his previous budget. They state that the raise in spending on welfare schemes will become additional burden on the state exchequer. Chandrababu Naidu already doubled the NTR Bharosa pensions being provided by State government.

Under this head alone, the State government is going to allocate additional Rs 5,000 crore for 54 lakh beneficiaries under various pensions. The state government also approved a proposal for providing direct cash benefits to women community through Self Help Groups. This burden is estimated between Rs 9,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore for the nearly 95 lakh beneficiaries.

Chandrababu Naidu announced that he will provide smart mobile phones to all the women in the State. The authorities have been guessing that it will also be proposed in the budget, and they have to allocate Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore.

In addition to that, TDP government also has been committing to provide direct cash benefit to farmers at least Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per acre under Rythu Raksha scheme, to be announced by Chandrababu Naidu shortly.

Above, all the allocations for the ongoing welfare and development schemes will be carried. The additional amount to be shown for the construction of Amaravati capital city, as the government already initiated majority of works to a tune of nearly Rs 50,000 crore.