Borrowings for infra development, no 'debt trap': Goa CM

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told justified the borrowings by his government and dismissed the Opposition's claim that the state has entered into a "debt trap".
"Opposition benches have tried to portray the picture that the government has got into the debt trap. This is not right. The bank does not allow to borrow till I have capacity to repay. There is a permissible limit put by Union ministry of Finance," Parsekar said talking on the demands for grants for Finance Department.
He said all states borrow within the permissible limit.
"It is dangerous if I borrow for making the payments towards salaries, schemes or maintenance, but we have invested money on capital expenditure," he stated.

The chief minister said the government has created infrastructure through the borrowings.
"Government has borrowed exclusively for creating infrastructure. We have paid all the instalments of interest as well as principal amount on time," he said.

Parsekar said the government incurred a revenue shortfall of Rs 5,000 crore after mining activities stopped "but still economy continued banking on our other sectors like tourism."
"We funded the social welfare schemes which were generated through this sector like tourism. The money was pushed into the market through social schemes, due to which there was growth in the GSDP," he said.
Parsekar said his government also succeeded in "plugging the leakages in revenue" and while doing this it ensured that the tax was not increased.

He said the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) was converted into profit making institution by his government for the first time in its history in last financial year.
"Through EDC, on an average three entrepreneurs are taking birth due to financial help provided by the institution," the CM added.