Efforts on to rein in fiscal deficit at 5.3%: C. Rangarajan

20 Nov 2012 Evaluate

The government will make all efforts to restrict fiscal deficit to 5.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the current financial year, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C. Rangarajan reported. The government initially pegged fiscal deficit for the current financial year at 5.1% of the GDP in the budget, which later got revised to 5.3% in view of subdued revenue collection and rising fuel and food subsidy bills.

The PMEAC chief's comments assumes significance since this comes in the backdrop of lukewarm response to the 2G spectrum auction which could garner the government only Rs 9,407 crore as against the target of Rs 40,000 crore. However, the government intends to go in for another round of spectrum auction before end of the current fiscal, which will be before March 31, 2013.

On depreciation of the rupee, Rangarajan underscored that the capital inflows during the current year would be adequate to cover the Current Account Deficit (CAD). Further, he expects rupee to stay around this particular range (Rs 54-55 a dollar) even by the end of this year. Off lately, Investor’s friendly, Finance Minister P Chidambaram exuded confidence that CAD will come down to 3.7% of GDP in 2012-13. In 2011-12, CAD touched a 30-year high of 4.2% of the GDP or $78 billion.

Further, on key policy rates, former RBI Governor Rangarajan, highlighted that RBI needs to watch the behavior of prices for some more time. He added that, of course, RBI will take all factors into account, but there is still some time for Reserve Bank to take a decision.

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