Mayaram defends FM’s fiscal math
Mayaram says the calculations are based on the assumption that growth will revive to around 5.8-5.9% in current fiscal
New Delhi: Finance secretary Arvind Mayaram on Saturday sought to defend the credibility of the fiscal math in finance minister Arun Jaitley’s maiden budget presented on Thursday holding that government will maintain the fiscal deficit at the projected 4.1% of GDP.
Speaking at Ficci, Mayaram said the calculations are also based on the assumption that growth will revive to around 5.8-5.9% in current fiscal on the back of a revival in investment cycle, especially due to the large capital investments scheduled by public sector units.
Mayaram said around Rs60,000 crore dsinvestment may have been an under statement as he expects government to do better stake sale by government PSUs because of a “radically different" market condition.
Mayaram said the government has unearthed Rs12000 crore which were locked up in small government funds and has put them in the consolidated fund of india.
He said most experts think oil prices will not go up significantly though conceding that impacts as a result of conflicts in Iraq and middle east are beyond the control of the government. The government has calculated its budget numbers assuming crude oil prices at $110 per barrel and rupee at 61 per dollar.
Mayaram also said that the government has no plans to create a sovereign wealth fund at present. “Countries who have built such funds have huge surpluses on their balance of payments front. We have not reached that stage yet," he added.
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