Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that growth will be among the top priorities of the government in the upcoming budget next February. She added that the focus will be on sustaining the momentum that the Indian economy has got coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her statement comes as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday cut its projection of India's economic growth in 2022 to 6.8 per cent. Though the IMF had projected a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.4 per cent for India in July, it now forecasts only a 6.8 per cent in 2022, a 0.6 percentage point downgrade.
Sitharaman is on an official visit to the US where she will attend the annual meetings of the IMF, World Bank, the G20 Finance Ministers and the Central Bank Governor (FMCBG) meetings.
She added that inflation concerns will be closely looked at in the budget in terms of specific expenditure revenue, reported ANI.
“Measures, specific 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," the Finance Minister said during an interaction at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
On the budget, she said it will be a carefully structured one.
"being sure how you’re going to be able to balance the two and be sure that the momentum that Indian economy has got coming out of the pandemic and the momentum with which it will grow even the next year, even as per the very many multilateral institutions which are observing India cannot be weakened. So, it will have to again be a very carefully-structured budget in which growth momentum will have to be sustained," she added.
The Finance Minister added that the Centre aims to make the Indian economy far more robust with an infrastructure framework ready not just for roads but also the digital infrastructure, and financial inclusion so that everybody has an access to a bank account.
"Looking at it the other way, not just handling the pandemic, but seeing it as a type of opportunity to continue with the reforms, whether it is looking at again, the amalgamation of bets making bigger bets, all that," she said.
The Finance Minister highlighted a lot of risks that are "extraneous" to the Indian economy that was "hitting us.
"And we are every now and then understanding the intensity of this and responding to it. Energy, fertilizer prices. Energy, not just the price, but also the availability. The risks to sourcing of energy. All these challenges, which are not in the medium term, not in the long term, but also in the short term,” she said.
