New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said prudent fiscal management by the government during the Covid pandemic saved India from becoming the “most indebted nation”.
“Those who are alleging that India’s debt has increased to high levels are the same people who advised the government to print money and distribute it during the pandemic.
“Had the government accepted their advice, we would have become the most indebted nation by now and not the fastest growing economy in the world which we are today,” she said at an event being held here as part of the BJP’s ‘Maha Jan Smpark Abhiyaan’.
The government’s total liabilities rose to Rs 150.95 lakh crore in the December quarter from Rs 147.19 lakh crore in the three months that ended September 2022. The increase reflects a quarter-on-quarter increase of 2.6 per cent in October-December 2022-23.
In absolute terms, the total liabilities, including those under the government’s public account, jumped to Rs 1,50,95,970.8 crore at the end of December 2022.
Public debt accounted for 89 per cent of the total outstanding liabilities in the December quarter, compared to 89.1 per cent at the end of September.
India has emerged as the fastest-growing major nation in the world by clocking a 7.2 per cent growth rate in the 2023 fiscal.
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In dollar terms, India’s GDP increased to USD 3.3 trillion and is expected to touch USD 3.7 trillion by the end of the 2023 calendar year, according to an IMF report.
Slamming the Delhi government headed by Arvind Kejriwal, Sitharaman said many ministers of the AAP government are in jail while there are no corruption charges against the Narendra Modi government which completed nine years recently.
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