Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday presented a Vote on Account budget of Rs 2.26 lakh crore for 2019-20, an increase of 18.38 percent over the previous year.
Finance Minister Y. Ramakrishnudu, who presented the budget in the Assembly, proposed a total expenditure of Rs 2,26,117 crore, comprising Rs 1,80,369 crore revenue expenditure and Rs 29,596 crore capital expenditure including Rs 8,994 crore towards principal repayment of public debt.
The estimated revenue deficit is Rs 2,099 crore while the fiscal deficit is estimated at around Rs 32,390 crore. The fiscal deficit will be around 3.03 percent of the GSDP, whereas the revenue deficit would be around 0.20 percent of the GSDP.
The total liabilities increased from Rs 1,48,744 crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 2,23,706 crore in 2017-18.
Recalling that when the state was bifurcated in 2014, there was a sense of dejection all around due to loss of capital city, and unfair division of revenues, assets and liabilities, Ramakrishnudu said the state had become the fastest growing economy in the country, recording double digit growth.
Andhra Pradesh registered average growth of 10.66 percent compared to all-India growth rate of 7.3 percent in the past four and a half years. The agriculture sector recorded an average growth rate of 11 percent whereas the all India average growth rate was 2.4 per cent.
The industry sector recorded a growth rate of 9.52 percent against the all India average growth rate of 7.1 percent and the services sector recorded an average growth rate of 9.57 percent against the all India average growth rate of 8.8 percent.
In 2018-19, the state economy is estimated to grow at 11.5 percent at constant prices, when the national growth is estimated to be 7.2 percent. The growth rate could further go up as reforms designed to address the structural weaknesses of the economy start showing their positive impact in the coming years, he said.
The allocation for state development schemes has gone up by 33.36 percent from Rs 49,103 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 65,468 crore 2019-20.
The Finance Minister announced 'Annadata Sukhibhava', a new scheme to give economic support to farmers and allocated Rs 5,000 crore for the same.
Ramakrishnudu presented his 11th budget and the last of the present government. Ramakrishnudu, who was also Finance Minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh, said he was proud to present his 11th and third consecutive budget from Amaravati.
He said the government's vision was to develop Amaravati as one of the 5 best global cities. "Our model of land pooling of 34,010 acres from 28,074 farmers has won enormous praise and is turning into case studies in the best global business schools."
The overall cost of construction of Amaravati is Rs 1,09,023 crore. The Phase I is estimated to cost Rs 51,687 crore, out of which construction works of Rs 39,875 crore are under execution.