Govt plots fiscal deficit reduction with GDP growth

NEW DELHI:  Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday defended the high fiscal deficit numbers in the Union Budget and said that the government is working to bring down the country’s fiscal deficit without creating any constraints for India’s economic growth.

“We are looking at medium-term and long-term sustainable growth which will ensure that India remains the fastest growing economy of the world,” Sitharaman said in her reply to the Budget discussions in the Parliament. During the Budget presentation, Sitharaman has pegged the fiscal deficit for 2020-21 at 9.5 per cent of GDP, for 2021-22 at 6.8 per cent and aims to bring it back below the 4.5 per cent mark by FY26.The government, she said, has not “hurried” while announcing any fiscal deficit number.

Sitharaman also rejected the ‘budget for the rich’ allegation and said that the Opposition has created a “false narrative” about crony capitalism. Similarly, she has faced down critics and reiterated the Centre’s commitment to privatise government-owned firms barring a few in four strategic sectors. “It has now become a sort of a habit for some in opposition to constantly allege whatever this government is doing — despite what we are doing for the poor, and more needs to be done, that is not denied at all,” she said.

She went on to list the steps taken by the government during the Covid-19 pandemic, and pointed out that the government has spent the highest-ever Rs 90,469 crore under the MNREGA rural employment scheme. Sitharaman’s remarks come a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi termed the Union Budget 2021-22 as “crony centric”, which “betrays” the employers of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium 
Enterprises. P Chidambaram, too, had termed the Budget as “disappointing” on Thursday.

However, the finance minister lashed out at the Congress in the Rajya Sabha and said thatthe government schemes are meant only to benefit the poor and not the “Damaad”, taking a dig at Robert Vadra, who is the son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.