Economic review meet: Government confident of maintaining 3.3 fiscal deficit, says Arun Jaitley

Arun Jaitley was confident of surpassing 7-7.5 per cent GDP growth rate which was projected in last budget presented on February 1.

The statement came on the second day of the much-awaited economic review meeting chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi. (Image: PTI)

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said that the government is determined to contain the fiscal deficit the targeted at 3.3 per cent of the gross domestic prduct (GDP) in 2018-19 without impacting the capital expenditure. The statement came on the second day of the much-awaited economic review meeting chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi against the backdrop of falling rupee against the US dollar and surging oil prices in the country. PM Modi took stock of the tax collections and macroeconomic indicators. According to a report by news agency PTI, Jaitley was confident of surpassing 7-7.5 per cent GDP growth rate which was projected in last budget presented on February 1. However he remained non-committal on cutting tax on petrol and diesel prices. There were assumptions that the government might might cut excise duty on fuel in order to give to the consumers. But it did not agreed to lose Rs 14,000 crore revenue from Re 1 per litre cut in excise. “The government is confident and will strictly maintain the 3.3 per cent fiscal deficit target,” Jaitley told reporters after the economic review meeting. "The government is confident that we will have a growth rate higher than what we had projected earlier this year in the Budget. The inflation is broadly under control", Jaitley added further. The finance minister was affirmative that the impact of demonetisation, GST implementation and measures taken to curb black money has made a phenomenal increase in the tax base. Speaking about the indirect tax side, Jaitley mentioned that the GST is settling down and a pick up in consumption will boost collection in the months to come. “We are confident that between direct and indirect tax collections, the government will comfortably meet the target if not surpass it,”he said, adding the Rs 1 lakh crore disinvestment target will be surpassed. At the Saturday’s meeting detailed presentation were made on the above mentioned topics by Departments of Economic Affairs, Revenue, Expenditure and Disinvestment.