The Centre’s cash position was “somewhat stressed” during April-June 2017 and it took recourse to Ways and Means Advances (WMA) facility from the RBI to tide over this temporary phase, a new report on public debt management has revealed.
The quarterly report of public debt management for April-June 2017, released on Friday, said that “overdraft” was also “availed briefly” during the quarter.
This was done even as the liquidity in the economy remained in surplus, after the demonetisation, during the April-June quarter, which kept the yield environment low.
The stress in cash position was due to the mismatch in receipt and payment which is generally seen during the first half of the financial year, the report added.
However, through cash management guidelines, attempt was made to time expenditure as per receipt trends, said the latest quarterly public debt management report put out by the Middle Office in the Finance Ministry.
To tide over this mismatch in Centre’s cash flow, Cash Management Bills of varying durations amounting to ₹1,30,000 crore were issued during the quarter. CMBs of ₹40,000 crore were redeemed during the quarter itself.
The report also highlighted that liquidity in the economy remained in surplus, after the demonetisation, during the quarter, which kept the yield environment low.
Meanwhile, the Centre’s public debt (excluding liabilities under the Public Account) increased 3.6 per cent in Q1 this fiscal on a Q-O-Q basis.