Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg has said that the reforms initiated by the government like demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) have been biggest growth contributors. He also indicated that the economic slowdown that the Indian economy is going through has bottomed out and the country's GDP is poised to grow from here on. Talking about the recently flashed inflation numbers, he said that it has consistently come down since 2014 and will not cross 4 percent in the financial year 2018.
On fiscal deficit, Garg further said that the government is committed to sticking to the target of 3.2 percent of GDP for this fiscal but a review would be done in December. Adding further, he noted that the government has already spent Rs 11.47 lakh crore on capital expenditure, more than half its target for the fiscal year. He also stated that the increased government spending has been targeted in a manner, which will bring in more investment and spur growth.
Pointing at effective and targeted spending, Economic Affairs Secretary has said that quality infrastructure is a main priority of the government. He also said that government will spend Rs 7 lakh crore in road infrastructure over the next five years and also mentioned that construction of new roads under the BharatMala programme will take place along with entail construction of 34,800 km of roads.