India faces near-term challenges; better placed to deal with them: Finance ministry report

Jun 21, 2022

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NEW DELHI: India is going through near-term challenges in managing its fiscal deficit, sustaining financial progress, reining in inflation and containing the present account deficit however the nation is comparatively higher positioned to climate these headwinds in comparison with different nations, the finance ministry stated in its month-to-month financial report.
Close to-term challenges have to be managed fastidiously with out sacrificing the hard-earned macroeconomic stability, the Month-to-month Financial Overview stated.
“Many international locations world wide, particularly developed international locations, face comparable challenges. India is comparatively higher positioned to climate these challenges due to its monetary sector stability and its vaccination success in enabling the economic system to open up,” it added.
India’s medium-term progress prospects stay vibrant as pent-up capability growth within the non-public sector is anticipated to drive capital formation and employment era in the remainder of this decade, as per the report.
Observing that the capex funds for 2022-23 is anticipated to underpin progress, the report stated an upside threat to the budgeted stage of gross fiscal deficit has emerged following cuts in excise duties on diesel and petrol.
A rise within the fiscal deficit might trigger the present account deficit to widen, compounding the impact of costlier imports, and weaken the worth of the rupee thereby, additional aggravating exterior imbalances, creating the danger (admittedly low at the moment) of a cycle of wider deficits and a weaker foreign money, it stated.
“Rationalising non-capex expenditure has thus turn into essential, not just for defending progress supportive capex but in addition for avoiding fiscal slippages. Depreciation threat to rupee, nonetheless, nonetheless stays so long as internet Overseas Portfolio Investor (FPI) outflows proceed in response to the rise in coverage charges and quantitative tightening in superior economies as they wage a chronic battle to calm inflation,” it stated.
The imported parts of excessive retail inflation in India have primarily been elevated international costs of crude and edible oil, it stated, including the onset of the summer season warmth wave has additionally contributed to the rise in meals costs domestically.
Nonetheless, going ahead, it stated, worldwide crude costs could also be tempered as international progress weakens and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting International locations (OPEC) will increase provide.
With regard to the RBI‘s financial coverage, the Might 2022 report stated it’s now absolutely devoted to reining inflation pressures within the economic system.
It’s elevating repo charges and withdrawing extra liquidity from the banking system after inflation has remained persistently above 6 per cent for 4 consecutive months.
Across the identical time, it stated the federal government additionally shared the heavy lifting for inflation management by effecting responsibility cuts and focusing on subsidies to guard the needy in opposition to the worth rise.
Final month, the federal government slashed excise responsibility by Rs 8 per litre and Rs 6 a litre on petrol and diesel, respectively, to tame value rise. Additionally, the federal government supplied Rs 200 per cylinder subsidy to Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries for 12 cylinders in a yr.
The impression of those measures and subsequent ones, if any, on progress and inflation will manifest within the knowledge within the coming months, the report famous.
Nonetheless, the momentum of financial actions sustained within the first two months of the present monetary yr augurs nicely for India to proceed to be the quickest rising economic system amongst main international locations in 2022-23.
The report additionally stated that the world is a definite chance of widespread stagflation, however India is at low threat of stagflation, owing to its prudent stabilisation insurance policies.
Stressing that the Indian economic system in 2021-22 has certainly absolutely recovered the pre-pandemic actual GDP stage of 2019-20, it stated the actual GDP progress in 2021-22 stands at 8.7 per cent, 1.5 per cent greater than the actual GDP of 2019-20.
India’s GDP in nominal phrases is now Rs 236.65 lakh crore or $3.2 trillion in 2021-22 in comparison with the pre-pandemic nominal GDP of USD 2.8 trillion in 2019-20.



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