Slamming the MDA government for being in a denial mode about the poor fiscal health of the State, leader of opposition Dr. Mukul Sangma today said that when he was the Chief Minister in-charge Finance department, he used to look up to indicators like debt to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) ratio and fiscal deficit.
Referring to the recent CAG report about the fiscal position in the State, Dr. Sangma denounced the State government for trying to deny the actual position.
“The CAG in a nutshell indicated its concern but the government of the day has the audacity to hide from the truth and be in denial mode. This is condemnable,” he said at a press conference here.
Stating that GSDP ratio is one of the indicators with which are required to be set as target, he said, “This will give you an indication about the fiscal health of the State.”
He said that another indicator is the fiscal deficit and how to ensure synchronisation between the debt GSDP ratio and fiscal deficit.
Sangma said that one cannot have targets which do not synchronise to achieve these indicators.
The leader of opposition hit out at the government for lacking sincerity to ensure fiscal discipline even as he alleged that there could be a malafide intention from the beginning.
He pointed out that the State government failed to adhere to the Meghalaya Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (MFRBM) Act, 2006.
He said that the current government amended certain portions of the MFRBM Act in order to create a provision for them to borrow more loans.
Citing the CAG report for March ended 2023, Sangma pointed out the performance of the State during 2018-19 to 2022-23 in terms of key fiscal targets set for selected parameters.
He pointed out that the target for fiscal deficit in 2018-19 is 3.25 percent but the actual is 6.30 per cent, in 2019-20 the target was 4.35 per cent and the actual was 3.17 per cent, for 2020-21 the target was 5.25 per cent but the actual was 7.71 per cent, in 2021-22 the target was 4.00-4.5 per cent but the actual achieved was 5.57 per cent and in 2022-23 the target was 4.00 per cent and the actual was 6.55 per cent.
The leader of the opposition questioned why in all these years the target was not a set single target.
Sangma also said that the target set by the government for achieving the liabilities to GSDP from 2018-19 to 2022-23 remained constant at 28 per cent, but the fiscal deficit target varies each year.
“This itself is reflective of a lack of comprehensive understanding in respect of fiscal management,” he said.
Sangma agreed that borrowing is one of the instruments to fund government’s interventions for development of the State even as he asked about the purpose of borrowing and from whom.
“But what’s happening with this government is that it is borrowing and also borrowing again to fund the repayment of principal and interest,” he said.
He said that the State government in some areas is engaging in irregularities with impunity thereby allowing fiscal indiscipline to become order of the day.
“If you allow irregularities to go on by people in authority then one day people will say this is what happens and that is the challenge that we face,” Sangma said.
