Kerala suffered Rs 1.56 lakh crore revenue loss due to COVID pandemic and lockdown:Finance minister
January 14, 2021 20:56
Already ravaged by Ockhi Cyclone and two consecutive floods during the previous years, Kerala has suffered a revenue loss of Rs 1.56 lakh crore due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, state Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac said.
Isaac, who tabled the Left government's Economic Review 2020 in the state assembly, a day ahead of the state budget, said natural disasters including Cyclone Ockhi of 2017, two consecutive floods of 2018, '19 and the pandemic affected the state's economy along with the return of non-resident Keralites from abroad, mostly following job loss.
The state's growth rates, which were higher than the national rates of growth saw a downward trend in 2019-20, due to the setbacks the state economy faced during the last three years, the review said.
"The natural disasters ravaged the state economy affecting the lives and livelihoods of many and adversely affecting productive sectors of the economy," it said.
"Kerala suffered a revenue loss of Rs 1.56 lakh crore due to COVID-19. In tomorrow's budget we will discuss how to overcome the post-COVID situation in the state," the minister said.
The 100 days programme, to revive the social and economic life in the state launched in September last year, was "the exit strategy" of the government to overcome the pandemic crisis, Isaac said.
"While the target of the government was jobs for 50,000 people, over one lakh jobs were created," he said.
-- PTI
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