Poor economy may hit poll sops

Hyderabad

March 24: The tall promises made by various political parties may fall flat in the wake of the low economic growth rate of the state and steep fall in revenues. Though the Congress claims to have issued a “realistic” manifesto in the context of the revenue dip, it will still have to mobilise additional revenues of at least Rs 10,000 crore to implement all its poll promises.
To be fair, this is rather modest when compared with the Telugu Desam and Praja Rajyam that have announced a flurry of schemes to catch the eye of the voter.
Finance department officials say that it would require additional revenue of at least Rs 25,000 crore to implement the new promises made by the TD, taking the total additional revenues required to Rs 35,000 crore since it won’t be able to scrap existing schemes.
“Their manifestos will have no sanctity if they fail to explain to people how they plan to mobilise funds,” said Mr V. Lakshmana Reddy, convener of Election Watch. While announcing his much-hyped cash transfer scheme, the TD chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, said no additional funds were required as revenue was growing at 20 per cent.
But the state economy presents a grim picture with just seven per cent growth rate against the projected 11 per cent in 2007-2008. Sources said the revenue out of Value Added Tax was Rs 22,000 crore against the 2008-2009 budgetary target of Rs 25,800 crore and Rs 28,000 crore of 2009-2010. On the expenditure front, salaries, pensions and interest on loans together account for Rs 30,000 crore, the Rs 2 kilo rice scheme Rs 3,500 crore, Rajiv Aarogyasri Rs 1,000 crore and fee reimbursement Rs 2,000 crore.