Kerala financially distressed due to poor governance by UDF, LDF: FM Sitharaman

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 28 (PTI) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that, according to the Reserve Bank of India, Kerala is one of the top five financially-stressed states in India, and alleged that this was due to the poor governance of successive UDF and LDF governments in the state.

The union finance minister claimed that there has been "continuous" poor fiscal management by both the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) -- either of whom were always in power in the state.

She also said that in the past six years since 2016-17, the Kerala government has far exceeded its permitted borrowing limit of 3 per cent and has resorted to extra-budgetary borrowing to the tune of over Rs 42,000 crore.

Sitharaman said that this off-budget borrowing was carried out through entities such as Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) and Kerala Social Security Pension Company Ltd, which have no revenue of their own.

"Since they have no revenue of their own and cannot repay the loans, who has to repay it? It has to be repaid from the government treasury. Which means the people of Kerala end up paying for it," the minister said after inaugurating the BJP-led NDA's Lok Sabha poll convention here.

Despite this, no money has been spent on development of the state, she claimed.

The union minister also said that while the UPA government was in power at the Centre and there were eight ministers from Kerala, the state only got Rs 46,303 crore in tax devolution and around Rs 25,000 crore as grants-in-aid from 2004 to 2014.

However, from 2014 to February 29, 2024, the Narendra Modi government has given the state Rs 1,55,649 crore in tax devolution and Rs 1,58,983 crore as grants-in-aid, even though there were no ministers from Kerala, she said. PTI