War in Ukraine impacting all countries like pandemic did: FM Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that Russia-Ukraine war has impacted all countries.

Replying to the debate in the Rajya Sabha on the Finance Bill, she said that the impact of a full-blown war in Ukraine is being felt by "all of us" as the war's impact has disrupted supplies and broken value chains.

"Now we are also facing the situation of a full-blown war in Ukraine which is not some war in some corner of the world but it seems to be having an impact on all countries like the way the pandemic has," she said.

Sitharaman also pointed out that the Central government did not increase taxes to fund the recovery from the impact of Covid, while citing an OECD report that said 32 countries had increased various tax rates during the pandemic.

"So, no tax was increased for our recovery process to be funded or aided."

Furthermore, she said that India remains as the top 5 FDI recipient countries in the world.

The minister pointed out that in the last 7 years and 9 months of the present government till December 2021, India recieved FDI inflows of $500.5 billion, which is 65 per cent higher than the inflows during the 10 years of the UPA government.

On Tuesday, Rajya Sabha continued to discuss the Finance Bill 2022 and Appropriation Bill, 2022 moved by the Finance Minister on Monday.

--IANS

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