CAG report on Punjab economic condition: Punjab debt to double in 5 years
CAG report on Punjab Economic Condition: Punjab’s financial crisis is likely to worsen as the public debt might reach Rs 3.73 lakh crore by 2024-25, as per the latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
As per the CAG report, Punjab’s public debt is expected to be Rs 3,73,988 crore by 2024-25, which will be more than double the public debt of Rs 1,79,130 crore as on March 31, 2019.
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The debt was at around Rs 40,000 crore when the SAD-BJP alliance came to power in the state in 2006-07. Later in 2016-17, the debt stood around Rs 1,53,773 crore.
Still, the Punjab government led by Congress party over the past four years could not bring economy back on track. Between 2016-17 to 2018-19, Punjab witnessed an upsurge of debt by around Rs 25,500 crore.
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For the past few years, Punjab has been repaying its earlier borrowings utilising over 73 percent of its new borrowings.
| Year | Public Debt |
| 2028-29 | Rs 6,33,159 cr |
| 2024-25 | Rs 3,73,988 cr |
| 2019-20 | Rs 1,93,659 cr |
| 2014-15 | Rs 86,818 cr |
| 2009-10 | Rs 53,252 cr |
The CAG report further pointed out that the power subsidy being given to the agriculture sector was one of the main reasons behind Punjab's poor economic condition.
During 2018-19, the power subsidy was at Rs 8,435 crore, witnessing a spike of Rs 1,857 crore (28 per cent) over the previous year amount of Rs 6,578 crore.
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-PTC News 
