Due to Budget session, Jaitley to skip G20 meet in Shanghai beginning Feb 26

With the Budget session of Parliament beginning tomorrow, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is most likely to skip the G20 meeting of Finance Ministers and central bank governors on February 26-27 in Shanghai.

Additional Secretary from Finance Ministry Dinesh Sharma would be attending the meeting as most of the officials, including Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, would be busy with the Budget.

Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan will participate in the deliberations.

Jaitley, according to sources, will not be travelling to China as he would be tied up with 2016-17 Budget. The second full fledged Budget of the NDA government will be unveiled in Parliament on February 29.

China is currently holding the chair of the G20, which is a grouping of 20 developed and developing nations. The G20 Summit, in which Prime Ministers and heads of states of these countries will participate, will be held at Hangzhou on September 4-5.

The G20 meetings assume significance as it comes they come in the backdrop of troubled global economy and volatility in stock and currency markets.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest World Economic Outlook has lowered global growth projections to 3.4 per cent for 2016, from earlier estimated 3.6 per cent.

India, however, stands out as a bright spot among major economies as it is expected to clock a growth rate of 7.6 per cent in 2015-16 as per CSO’s estimates.