Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today claimed that Meghalaya has emerged as one of India’s most dynamic states, ranked among the top ten fastest-growing states in the country since the post-Covid era, currently holding the ninth position.
Playing down the data given by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in the recent State Finances Audit Report regarding fiscal deficit and huge outstanding debt in Meghalaya, Sangma said that the State’s economy is growing rapidly.
Speaking to media persons here, the chief minister said that Meghalaya is experiencing unprecedented economic momentum, with its growth trajectory projected to propel the state to a landmark $10 billion economy by 2028.
He pointed out that post Covid, Meghalaya is on an accelerated growth path, continuing which it is estimated to become a USD 11.5 billion economy by 2028.
Sangma also said that with the bounce back from Covid slump, the economy is expected to stabilise around the annual growth rate of 12.5 per cent.
“Based on this growth rate, it is estimated to become a USD 10.6 billion economy by 2028,” Sangma said.
According to him, excluding the Covid year, the decadal growth of the State has been 10.82 per cent.
Maintaining growth at this rate, Meghalaya is poised to become a USD 10 billion economy in 2028, he said.
According to Sangma, the permissible fiscal deficit in the 15th Finance Commission period is 3.5 per cent based on power sector reform.
“The Government of India tightly controls the level of deficit that the State can incur and sets the limit on it from time to time,” he said.
Meanwhile, on revenue deficit, Sangma said that Meghalaya’s revenue balance swung from a surplus of Rs 654 crore in 2021-22 to a deficit of Rs 44 crore in 2022-23 largely due to disruption in mining activity which impacted non-tax revenue.
“However, through enhanced fiscal discipline, the State has turned this deficit into a surplus of Rs 1,408 crore in 2023-24,” he said.
According to him, post Covid, the Government of India launched a ‘Special Capital Assistance to States for Capital Investment’ (SASCI/CAPEX) for capital expenditure projects, which provides 50-year interest free loans to states.
Sangma said that these are linked to quality of expenditure and performance of the State in utilising CAPEX which Meghalaya has been effectively utilising.
He said that consequently, CAPEX release from the Centre has increased six times from Rs 200 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 1293 crore in 2023-24 which comes to a total of Rs 2823.28 crore.
The chief minister said that since this loan is provided for 50-year interest free, it is more like a grant to the State, though being kept as part of fiscal calculations of the State by the Accountant General and the Government of India.
“Hence, to get the real status of the fiscal deficit of the State and outstanding debt, the same is to be excluded from the calculation of the fiscal deficit and Debt-GSDP,” Sangma said.
