NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday that the economic package announced by the Centre to help revive the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic is not different from that announced by the other countries, but may vary in proportion.
In an interaction with BJP national spokesperson Nalin Kohli, the Finance Minister said that the packages announced by other nations were studied and it was found that all the other counties brought together a basket of fiscal, monetary and central bank’s liquidity measures, as India has done.
“We are not at all different from them. The proportion may vary,” she said.
“When developed countries have certain institutions, it’s easy for them to go through one route and play less on the other route� India has a great advantage in terms of technology and transfer of cash is possible, and that’s why through the Garib Kalyan Yojana we could infuse cash into the hands of the people through their Jan Dhan accounts,” the Finance Minister said.
She also denied the criticism that the government has not paid attention to the middle class. Further, on the criticism by some state governments over lack of attention from the Centre, Sitharaman said: “It’s completely untrue and not acceptable at all.”
“The assumptions made in the Budget are already in a state where we will have to review them. Every assumption made in the Budget (2020-21) is at a stage where unless I review them, they are not going to hold good.” She said that revenues have come down not just for the states, but also for the Centre, and “notwithstanding these realities, I have devolved in April and May everything that I had to devolve as per the assumptions placed in the Budget of February 2020.”
The FM noted that the situation now is “definitely different” from what it was when she presented the Budget.
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