Budget content will be decided by economic realities, says Jaitley

BUSINESS STANDARD Budget content will be decided by economic realities, says Jaitley Finance minister slams Opposition parties, calls them 'Nawabs of Negativity' and 'Compulsive Contrarians'

Economic & Policy:

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the interim Budg exist,” Jaitley said.et, to be presented on February 1, will be within the existing conventions. Its contents, however, will be dictated by economic compulsions and realities of the day, he added.

Amid concerns over his health, Jaitley was speaking live from New York and addressing an event in Mumbai organised by CNBC TV-18. Ahead of the next meeting of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), Jaitley also said that real interest rates in India cannot be higher than most major economies.

“There is a convention for interim Budgets, on what you can and cannot present. Ordinarily, there should be no reason to move away from that convention, but then the larger interests of the economy always dictate what should be in the interim Budget,” Jaitley said, without disclosing details.

“If we look at the bigger picture, there have been successes over the last few years. There have also been challenges. Without getting into specifics, some of those challenges really can’t afford to wait. There is a necessity to address some of them. We intend to work within the parameters of the conventions that...Read More