HYDERABAD: Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy on Friday said the Centre may not be able to go in for Quantitative Easing (QE) as suggested by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to kick-start the economy.
Speaking to mediapersons in Delhi, Kishan Reddy said the priority for the Central government now was to contain COVID-19. “Once we control the spread of Coronavirus, we can think of other issues,” he said.
The Union Minister of State also made it clear that it was impossible to provide additional loans to the state governments. “This is not the time to talk about loans and QE. Even lending agencies too are in trouble now,” Kishan Reddy said.
Elaborating on the issue, he said for the Centre to resort to QE, all the other States should express their consent for the same. The Centre cannot go in for QE just because one State has asked for it, he said.
Kishan Reddy further said as the country was facing a ‘health emergency’ and not a ‘financial emergency’, it was not the time to talk about raising the ceiling of Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) limit and other economic issues. They could wait till the Coronavirus is wiped out, he said. His comments might throw cold water on the State that had pinned hopes on the Centre’s financial succour.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had suggested to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the nation should go in for QE and also raise the ceiling of FRBM limit from the present 3.5 per cent to five or six per cent. The Chief Minister is expected to raise financial issues once again with the PM when the latter conducts a video conference with CMs on Monday.