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P. Chidambaram in Tokyo
on Saturday. (Reuters) |
Tokyo, Oct. 13 (PTI): After announcing a slew of reform measures to revive growth, finance minister P. Chidambaram has indicated that the Union budget for 2013-14 would focus on cutting wasteful expenses and promoting investments.
“We must have a budget that emphasises fiscal consolidation and incentivises savings, promotes investment and cuts out wasteful expenditure,” he said.
However, he added the government's key social welfare programmes will be fully protected.
Chidambaram and Reserve Bank of India governor D. Subbarao are here for the IMF-World Bank meeting.
In the face of rising food, fertiliser and fuel subsidies, containing high fiscal deficit is a key challenge for the government. Though the fiscal deficit target for 2012-13 has been pegged at 5.1 per cent of the GDP, economists feel that it may be difficult for the government to stick to the budget estimates.
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