With an eye on the 2019 general elections, the Telugu Desam government in Andhra Pradesh is gearing up to present a jumbo budget for ₹2 lakh crore in 2018-19, a staggering rise of over ₹43,000 crore compared to the ongoing fiscal, the highest probable jump in one year.

Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu announced in Amalapuram this afternoon that they were preparing budget proposals for ₹2 lakh crore for the next financial year despite reduction in State revenue owing to GST.

The budget for the next fiscal is expected to be presented in February. The Lok Sabha polls are due in the first half of 2019, a year in which Andhra Pradesh also faces assembly elections.

“The State government is facing financial problems.

There is some drop in our revenue because of GST. We hope to get some funds from the Centre by the end of this month,” Yanamala told a meeting organised as part of the ongoing ‘Janmabhoomi’ public outreach programme.

Andhra Pradesh’s budget for 2017-18 was ₹1,56,999 crore.

Revenue and fiscal deficit

The State so far incurred a revenue expenditure of ₹86,791 crore against a projected ₹1,25,911 crore. Capital expenditure stood at ₹13,939 crore against the proposed ₹21,959 crore.

The State’s revenue deficit touched ₹14,682.74 crore and fiscal deficit ₹28,157.84 crore, according to information posted on the Chief Minister’s Office Real-Time Executive (CORE) Dashboard.

Revenue, as on today, from different sources was ₹91,595 crore against ₹1,18,782 crore projected for the fiscal.

Andhra collected ₹5,508.19 crore as the State GST but has not received anything under the Central GST yet. A sum of ₹2,242.97 crore accrued under integrated GST.

AP, so far, got only ₹14,587 crore as grants-in-aid from the Centre this fiscal against the projected ₹28,598 crore, the CORE Dashboard revealed.

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