Meghalaya today received another Rs 39.18 crore from the Centre as the balance amount under the back-to-back loan facility in lieu of GST compensation.
It may be noted that the Ministry of Finance has today released Rs 44,000 crore to the states and union territories (UTs) under the back-to-back loan facility in lieu of GST Compensation.
This release is in addition to normal GST compensation being released every two months out of actual cess collection.
After the 43rd GST Council meeting held on May 28 this year, it was decided that the Central government would borrow Rs 1.59 lakh crore and release it to states and UTs (with legislature) on a back-to-back basis to meet the resource gap due to the short release of compensation on account of inadequate amount in the Compensation Fund.
All eligible states and UTs (with legislature) have agreed to the arrangements of funding of the compensation shortfall under the back-to-back loan facility.
For effective response and management of Covid-19 pandemic and a step-up in capital expenditure all states and UTs have a very important role to play.
To assist the states and UTs in their endeavour, the Ministry of Finance has frontloaded the release of assistance under the back-to-back loan facility during Financial Year 2021-22 of Rs 1,59,000 crore.
It is expected that this release will help the states and UTs in planning their public expenditure among other things, for improving health infrastructure and taking up infrastructure projects.