Chandigarh, March 3 Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said on Tuesday that the AAP government has reduced the debt-to-GSDP ratio to 44.47 per cent, a decrease of four percentage points, and also claimed that it was spending 85 per cent of its borrowings on servicing old debt raised by previous SAD-BJP and Congress regimes.
Cheema dismissed claims by opposition parties who have been targeting the AAP over the rising state debt and blamed the previous governments for pushing the state into a "debt trap".
The FM was speaking to reporters here while highlighting the achievements of his department as the AAP government completes four years in office on March 16.
Comparing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections of the AAP government in the past four years with that of the erstwhile Congress regime, Cheema said the state government had mobilized tax revenue of Rs 83,739 crore in the past four years.
He said that when the Congress was in power in the state, GST collections were Rs 61,286 crore over five years.
Cheema further said that his department had mobilized excise revenue of Rs 37,975 crore in the past four years.
However, during the SAD-BJP and the Congress regimes, the excise revenue stood at Rs 20,545 crore and Rs 27,395 crore, respectively.
On the issue of outstanding debt, Cheema said that when the AAP came to power in 2022, the outstanding debt was Rs 3 lakh crore left by previous SAD-BJP and Congress governments.
"By servicing that debt, we have repaid 35 per cent of the principal amount and 50 per cent of the interest. Of the borrowings we took, 85 per cent was spent on servicing the old debt," Cheema said.
However, he said that the AAP government had reduced the debt-to gross state domestic product (GSDP) to 44.47 per cent from 48.25 per cent in 2022.
This is a significant achievement of the state government, he noted.
In response to a question, Cheema said that Punjab was in a "debt trap" when the SAD-BJP and the Congress were in power.
"We have reduced it (debt to GSDP) by 4 per cent," said the FM.
