We have been most honest with our fiscal numbers, says Goyal

Hard-nosed economists may express concern over possible fiscal slippage, but the government is confident of reining in the numbers.

Says stand-in Finance Minister Piyush Goyal: “I don’t think there is any concern. We have been the most honest government in many years…whatever you see is the real picture and we have stuck to it.”

Goyal, who presented the last Budget of the Narendra Modi-led government, said in his conversation with

BusinessLine : “The number (fiscal deficit) is 3.36 per cent of the GDP… anybody would have made it 3.3 per cent. My Prime Minister said whatever is the number, you declare it. If 3.36 per cent becomes 3.4 per cent, so be it. We have been honest in our Budget, in our reporting.”

“The world is seeing consistency in our numbers. The fact is that we have stuck to fiscal prudence all our five years…some people were expecting 3.9–4 per cent…We have actually gone through the numbers and the real picture in great detail, and have stuck to the real picture.”

Clearly, the Interim Budget was more expenditure-driven. Economists believe that additional expenditures such as those aimed at the farmers and the middle-class (in the form of tax rebates) are bound to strain the GDP target.

In his Budget speech, Goyal, while talking about the state of the economy, had said: “From the high of almost 6 per cent seven years ago, the fiscal deficit has been brought down to 3.4 per cent in 2018-19 in the revised estimate. The current account deficit, against a high of 5.6 per cent six years ago, is likely to be only 2.5 per cent of the GDP this year. We contained the fiscal deficit notwithstanding the Finance Commission’s recommendations increasing the share of the States in Central taxes from 3.2 per cent to 4.2 per cent, which we think is in the true spirit of cooperative federalism.”