India’s long-term growth prospects embedded in public capital expenditure programmes: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 15 said India’s long-term growth prospects are embedded in public capital expenditure programmes.

Ms. Sitharaman, while attending the third G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting hosted by Indonesia in Bali, also said evidence-based policy making is vital for resilient economic systems.

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The government has laid emphasis on capital expenditure to push economic growth hit by the pandemic. It is expected that the increase in public spending would crowd in private investment.

Ms. Sitharaman raised capital expenditure (capex) by 35.4% for the financial year 2022-23 to ₹7.5 lakh crore to continue the public investment-led recovery of the pandemic-battered economy. The capex last year was ₹5.5 lakh crore.

“Reflecting on India’s #growthstory, FM shared that India’s long-term growth prospects are embedded in public #CapitalExpenditure programmes, & #EvidenceBased #PolicyMaking is vital for resilient economic systems,” the Finance Ministry said in a tweet.

The Finance Minister also highlighted that sustainable global recovery should be pivoted on climate actions and the focus needs to be on scaling up climate finance and propelling green transitions. Participating in the second session of the ongoing G20 FMCBG, Ms. Sitharaman shared views on G20’s Health Agenda, including pandemic preparedness and response mechanisms.

She also highlighted the need for immediate mobilisation and deployment of resources for health emergencies.

“FM Smt. @nsitharaman called for a global coordination mechanism with @WHO at its centre. FM also said that India is committed to supporting all efforts to #protect and #prepare against any future #pandemic,” another tweet said.