Fiscal Deficit Will Be Kept Within 5% Of Gdp: Fm

At the same time, he admitted that there were some "problems" ahead. But that, in his view, should not create pessimism. "We must aim for higher growth and must dream big," he said.

Addressing the economic editors' conference in New Delhi, the finance minister said the GDP growth in 1996-97 will be around 6.5 per cent.

About the criticism of United Front's economic policies by the Congress Work- ing Committee, Chidambaram said: "Every government and finance minister must be prepared for a measure of criticism. Therefore I take the Congress criticism in the right spirit."

The government proposes to move the bill for setting up of the Insurance Regulatory Authority in the winter session. In addition, the cabinet will be moved very soon for setting up of the Tariff Commission.

 

Chidambaram said the paper on subsidies promised in the budget will be tabled in Parliament. It will detail the subsidies and the beneficiaries. "Assume some subsidies like on food and fertilisers are required. Then we have to address whom they have to be targeted at," he said. The draft Companies and Income Tax Acts will be made available for public debate by January next year, he said. The setting up of the Expenditure Commission has been held up, since the minister has been unable to put together the "dream team".

According to the finance minister, the performance in the first half of the year indicated that the country was on course to restrict the fiscal deficit to the targeted 5 per cent of the gross domestoc product. The revenue collections were slightly above the five-year average at the end of September, while expenditure trends were marginally higher, he said.

FM to meet

bankers today

Finance minister P Chidambaram will meet RBI governor C Rangarajan in Mumbai today. The meeting will be attended by deputy governors RV Gupta, Y Venugopal Reddy and SS Talwar apart from a number of bank chiefs. Top levels sources in the central bank said that the meeting is "part of a continuous dialogue between the finance minister and the RBI top brass". Chidambaram will also meet the chairmen of LIC and GIC a day later on Thursday.