Asserting the government’s commitment to meet fiscal deficit target of 3.3% for the current fiscal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that there are some more steps on the anvil to narrow the current account deficit (CAD) and bolster foreign exchange inflows. He also said that India will continue to be the leading destination of foreign direct investment (FDI) despite the adverse global situation. However, he pointed out that there could be some transient problem in foreign portfolio investment but these would not continue depending on the global situation.
The minister has stated that maintaining fiscal prudence is one of the top priorities of the government. He said ‘gradually on fiscal deficit we had glide down from 4.6% we are now targeting 3.3% (of GDP) this year and I am quite certain with the kind of revenue coming particulary from the direct taxes, we will achieve that.’ As far as CAD is concerned, he said it is linked to global oil prices because foreign exchange is mostly spent on crude oil. He also said ‘some more steps are likely but there are two factors... external one is the oil prices and second is the policy with the United States which is leading to hardening of the dollar itself therefore adversely impacting all currencies of the world.’
Citing some of the steps to bridge CAD and bolster flows in the recent past, Jaitley said that the sovereign borrowing target was reduced by Rs 700 billion for the current fiscal and withholding tax on masala bonds has been withdrawn for the moment. Besides, he said that the government recently allowed state-owned oil marketing companies to raise $10 billion through external commercial borrowing (ECB). On Indian economy, he said that the ability of the country to maintain the present growth rate for a decade or two is reasonably certain.
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