Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday that the fiscal situation should be comfortable during the 2018-’19 financial year, PTI reported. Addressing a press conference after meeting members of the Reserve Bank of India’s Board of Directors, Jaitley said there was no concern about fiscal deficit exceeding the targets in 2018-’19.
“As far as the fiscal situation goes, I see next year to be more comfortable as far as revenues are concerned,” he told reporters. “I cannot see at this stage that there would be any slippages.”
On Friday, the finance minister had said government expenditure exceeding fiscal deficit was the result of one month’s shortfall in Goods and Services Tax revenues for 2017-’18.
Jaitley also dismissed concerns about crude oil prices, saying that no assessment about its impact on the Indian economy should be made based upon “hypothetical situations”. He said that crude oil prices had fallen again in the last three days, reversing the trend.
Jaitley also described RBI Governor Urjit Patel’s move to keep the repo rate unchanged as a “balanced decision”.
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