Government Has Fiscal Space To Provide Additional Support To Economy If Necessary Says Economic Survey

The Economic Survey 2022 stated despite all the disruptions caused by the global pandemic, India's balance of payments remained in surplus throughout the last two years. This allowed the Reserve Bank of India to keep accumulating foreign exchange reserves (they stood at US$ 634 billion on 31st December 2021). This is equivalent to 13.2 months of merchandise imports and is higher than the country's external debt. The combination of high foreign exchange reserves, sustained foreign direct investment, and rising export earnings will provide an adequate buffer against possible global liquidity tapering in 2022-23. The fiscal support given to the economy as well as to the health response caused the fiscal deficit and government debt to rise in 2020-21. However, a strong rebound in government revenues in 2021-22 has meant that the Government will comfortably meet its targets for the year while maintaining the support, and ramping up capital expenditure. The strong revival in revenues (revenue receipts were up over 67 per cent YoY in April-November 2021) means that the Government has fiscal space to provide additional support if necessary.

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