New Delhi, July 6 (Inditop.com) Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday said recovery of Indian economy in the current fiscal would be difficult unless there were “visible improvements” in the global economic scenario.
Speaking to a television channel after presenting the union budget for 2009-10, Mukherjee said the economy would likely recover in the third quarter of 2009-10, but if the western economies did not improve, “we will take a longer period”.
Asked about the 6.8 percent fiscal deficit estimated for the financial year, he said India’s deficit situation was much better compared that of the US and Britain.
“I think the fiscal deficit in the US for this year is more than 11 percent and in the UK, it’s more than 16 percent. Compared to that, our 6.8 percent is better.”
Mukherjee said his goal was to achieve at least 6 percent growth in the current fiscal and bring the economy back to the high growth trajectory in coming years.
Talking about tax reforms, the minister said: “I want to do away with the plethora of tax exemptions. The focus is to make tax rates cheaper and tax return process simpler.”
