Opening a window | The Indian Express

Opening a window | The Indian Express

Written by Neelkanth Mishra |Updated: July 8, 2019 12:12:20 am

The writer is co-head of Asia Pacific Strategy and India Strategist for Credit Suisse.

Opening a window

Budget takes a calculated risk to fund part of borrowings through foreign currency bonds

Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS Anurag Thakur leave the Finance Ministry office to present the Budget in Parliament. (Express Photo: Neeraj Priyadarshi/File)

The government has chosen to retain the fiscal deficit target presented in the interim budget, continuing its commitment to the path of fiscal consolidation, and demonstrating faith that the private sector would respond to the resultant lower rates. Given that the budgeted expenditure growth of more than 20 per cent over the actual spend last year is already the highest since 2009, it was prudent to let the rest of the heavy-lifting be done by the lower rates that measures announced in the budget should help drive.