NEW DELHI: With elections looming and calls for oil tax cuts becoming more pervasive, interim finance minister Piyush Goyal reiterated on Monday that the government was committed to meeting its fiscal deficit target for the current year.
For the last fiscal, the government had managed to meet its revised (from 3.2 per cent to 3.5 per cent) fiscal deficit target at 3.53 per cent. This year, it has been set at 3.3 per cent.
“I can assure you that we are monitoring and working to ensure that fiscal deficit will be contained at 3.3 per cent, despite this being an election year... I will urge you to look at history be it 2013-14, be it 2007-08 or 2008-09, where fiscal deficits, micro-economic stability, good governance — all were thrown to the wind for political exigencies,” Goyal stated at a conference in New Delhi.
Stating that the government would both meet its aim to foster growth for the poor and strengthening the economy, Goyal pointed out that the government has been responsible in the management of prices in the face of rising crude oil prices over the last year.
“We have factored in what would be the increased oil price. Some of it were factored before the budget. Some of it we have now. And with alternate sources... without cut in expenditure, we will be able to meet the fiscal deficit,” he said.
Goyal also reiterated that bringing petroleum products under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime would require consensus of the states. “Even though there are different political ideologies in different states, they have all worked together to ensure the success of GST and maybe in the next meeting there could be a discussion on this,” Goyal said.