Expressing confidence in achieving the fiscal deficit, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, the government will take all steps to contain fiscal deficit and pursue reforms to deal with economic challenges. During pre-Budget consultations with state finance ministers, he said, ‘the fiscal consolidation roadmap for Centre has been laid out and the government will not breach the fiscal deficit limits.’
Highlighting the challenges before the economy and importance of reform measures needed to address them, he said that the government has formulated the plan to restrict the fiscal deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2016-17. By adding further, he said that the high current account deficit (CAD) level is the second major challenge that the economy faces, also added that foreign investment is not an option but an economic imperative.
On the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Chidambaram said he will outline amendments to the Constitution on the GST in his Budget speech, if there is consensus among the states on the issue. He also asked state finance ministers to fast track clearances needed for investment proposals. While, on the issue of states demanding more compensation for reduction in central sales tax (CST), states were told that all would depend on the fiscal situation of the country.
Meanwhile, the committees on the CST compensation issue and the other on the design of the GST will submit its reports to the Centre on January 21.
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