Budget to target both high prices, slowing growth: Nirmala Sitharaman – Times of India
NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the next Budget will be carefully structured to address the twin challenges of high inflation and slowing growth, while sounding optimistic about the Indian economy expanding by around 7% during the current financial year.
“Specifics (of the next Budget) may be difficult at this stage because it’s a bit too early. But broadly, the growth priorities will be kept absolutely on the top. Even as I speak about the concerns that inflation brings before me. So, inflation concerns will have to be addressed. But then how would you manage growth would be the natural question,” Sitharaman said in Washington, where she is scheduled to attend the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Budget is due to be presented on February 1 and initial discussions on spending by various government departments began earlier this week.
Her comments came hours before the inflation and factory output data were released and hours after the IMF lowered India’s growth projection for the current financial year to 6.8%, which will still place it among the fastest growing major economies. While acknowledging that India is not immune to global economic developments, the minister said she was “confident of India’s relative and absolute growth performance in the rest of the decade”.
Amid rising inflationary pressure, Sitharaman identified high energy prices among the biggest problems facing the Indian economy in the near future. She, however, suggested that the government will seek to protect the poor and the vulnerable and argued that the Centre’s decision to lower excise duty on petrol and diesel should be seen in that context. “Last year we had to pay much more for imports of fertilisers due to rise in international prices. But the Modi government took the burden of the entire price rise and the farmers paid what they had paid in 2018-2019,” she said.
Yellen to visit next month
Treasury secretary Janet Yellen will travel to India next month to attend the ninth edition of the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership meeting, as she pitched for strong ties between the two nations to address the world’s most important economic challenges. The announcement by Yellen came as she met with her Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman here.
“Specifics (of the next Budget) may be difficult at this stage because it’s a bit too early. But broadly, the growth priorities will be kept absolutely on the top. Even as I speak about the concerns that inflation brings before me. So, inflation concerns will have to be addressed. But then how would you manage growth would be the natural question,” Sitharaman said in Washington, where she is scheduled to attend the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Budget is due to be presented on February 1 and initial discussions on spending by various government departments began earlier this week.
Her comments came hours before the inflation and factory output data were released and hours after the IMF lowered India’s growth projection for the current financial year to 6.8%, which will still place it among the fastest growing major economies. While acknowledging that India is not immune to global economic developments, the minister said she was “confident of India’s relative and absolute growth performance in the rest of the decade”.
Amid rising inflationary pressure, Sitharaman identified high energy prices among the biggest problems facing the Indian economy in the near future. She, however, suggested that the government will seek to protect the poor and the vulnerable and argued that the Centre’s decision to lower excise duty on petrol and diesel should be seen in that context. “Last year we had to pay much more for imports of fertilisers due to rise in international prices. But the Modi government took the burden of the entire price rise and the farmers paid what they had paid in 2018-2019,” she said.
Yellen to visit next month
Treasury secretary Janet Yellen will travel to India next month to attend the ninth edition of the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership meeting, as she pitched for strong ties between the two nations to address the world’s most important economic challenges. The announcement by Yellen came as she met with her Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman here.
