Excessive burden will not be imposed; criticise centre’s imposition of cuts in borrowing limit of state

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The officials of the printing department reached Finance Minister K N Balagopal's house to hand over the budget to be presented in the assembly today. Hinting of austerity measures in the state, the minister sharply criticized the centre’s imposition of cuts in the borrowing limit of the state. With the reduction in the borrowing limit of Rs 2700 crore, the state will be able to borrow only Rs 937 crore for the next three months. The finance minister responded to the media that all the people of Kerala should understand this fact. The minister indicated that there will be no unsustainable burden in the budget and said that imposing excessive burden is not the policy of the left front. The minister reached the assembly for the budget presentation.

Meantime, reports are coming out that the state is moving towards economic growth even when the public debt is increasing and it is facing a severe financial crisis. Kerala achieved an economic growth of 12.01 percent by overcoming not only the financial crisis but also the central borrowing control.