Government confident of meeting fiscal deficit target, says Arun Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said that the government will stick to the fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent and expressed high hopes that the growth rate of the economy would be higher than what it was projected in the 2018-19 budget.

Speaking to reporters after taking part in a review meeting on the economy held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jaitley said that the PM was satisfied with the economic data.

“Government will stick to fiscal deficit target,” news agency PTI quoted Jaitley as saying. He also added that the expenditure targets would also be met.

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“As far as capital expenditure is concerned, already we have spent about 44 per cent of the budgeted expenditure till August 31 and we will end the year without any cuts and will maintain the 100 per cent capital expenditure,” he said.

On the second day of the economic review meeting chaired by Modi, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) gave a detailed presentation on the current condition of the country’s economy. PM Modi was satisfied with the presentation.

The finance minister also said that the revenue collection target will also be achieved comfortably as GST was settling down and consumption had picked up.

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“With regard to GST and other indirect taxes, GST is settling down and with the kind of pickup in consumption which has taken place, it will have an impact on GST collection in future months. We're confident that between direct and indirect tax collections, the government would comfortably meet the target,” Jaitley added.

Earlier on day one of the meeting, the government had announced steps to contain the expanding Current Account Deficit (CAD) and steps to check depreciation of the Indian rupee.