The Opposition raised concern over Goa’s rising debt even as Chief Minister Pramod Sawant claimed that the debt-to GDP ratio had dropped from 30 to 27 per cent though the Union government had asked States to maintain it at 25 per cent. Benaulim MLA Venzy Vie gas, who tabled the starred question in the State Legis lative Assembly, stated that the answer reflects several critical failures of the gov ernment in debt manage ment. The total outstand ing debt increased from Rs 16,823 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 35,312 crore in 2025-26. Thus it rose by Rs 18,489 crore in the last nine years. Further, regarding the re payment schedule, the MLA pointed out that the State will pay about Rs 3,600 crore during the current fis cal year and this burden will increase to Rs 4,600 crore by 2030-31. Referring to the CAG Re port, the Benaulim MLA sought to know why the government was availing off-budget borrowings at a high rate of interest. Fa torda MLA Vijai Sardesai also asked: “Why the gov ernment was taking market borrowings when soft loans were available?” Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao criticised the government over what he described as excessive spending on events. He said that the government had spent around Rs 677 crore on events since 2022, aver aging nearly Rs 47 lakh per day. Further Rs 13 crore was spent on a 60-minute event attended by the Prime Min ister, amounting to about Rs 22 lakh per minute. He questioned wheth er the government would curtail expenditure on such events to ensure more funds are available for develop ment. Claiming that the govern ment had never defaulted on its principal and interest repayment, the Chief Minis ter said that the government had curtailed its borrowing after the Covid-19 pandem ic leading to a decline in the debt-to-GSDP ratio. In 2020-21, the debt-to-GSDP ratio was 34.63 per cent and it was reduced to 29.27 per cent in 2023-24 and further to 27.05 per cent in 2024 25. He said that, based on the CAG findings the govern ment initiated the prepara tion of a debt sustainability framework. The National In stitute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) is entrusted with this framework, which is currently in progress. He also clarified that the gov ernment had not rolled out any of its old debt through fresh borrowings, refinanc ing or re-issuance of secu rities. The State has had a rev enue surplus for the last four years. The State man ages its debt obligations as well as loan repayments in a prudent and sustainable manner. The government plans to avail loans worth Rs 4,500 Rs 5,000 crore in the com ing financial year under the Centre’s Special Assistance for Capital Investment scheme, which offers a 50 year interest-free tenure. Sawant said that the State had already utilised Rs 4,148 crore this finan cial year towards capital expenditure under the scheme and would contin ue to use such borrowings to fund infrastructure and development projects. “We have taken only a Rs 1,250 crore loan from the open market this year against the borrowing limit of Rs 4,500 crore. Next year we plan to avail only about Rs 1,000 crore from the market,” he said adding that Goa ranks third in fiscal management as per the assessment of NITI Aayog.
GOA’S DEBT SWELLS TO `35,312 CR
