Amid concerns over rising crude oil prices, Finance Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said the government would take and implement “some difficult decisions” in the coming months.

“In meeting the targets under the (expenditure) roadmap, I am conscious of the fact that the government would need to take and implement some difficult decisions in the coming months,” Mr Mukherjee said at an event organised by Ficci here.

“We cannot go on with the approach that is divorced from the reality. But I believe that Budget is not the only exercise through which all the work is to be done because I cannot ignore the ground reality that mere announcement of decisions if it cannot be pursued is serving no purpose as it happened in the past,” he said.

Drawing confidence from the easing of inflation, Mr Mukherjee said that the government expects interest rates to come down in days to come. It will thus help in boosting investment confidence.

“Core inflation has moderated in the past three months and in the coming months we are looking at reversal of the policy rate, which should help in improving business sentiments,” he said.

However, lurking fear of further spike in crude oil price could mute the quantum of rate cut by the Reserve Bank in the coming months. Crude oil prices have is hovering around $125 per barrel.

Highlighting the importance of the fiscal consolidation, the Finance Minister said “expenditure monitoring and better expenditure planning through the amended provisions in the FRBM Act wherein three years rolling targets of expenditure indicators have been prescribed.”

Related Topics