India pegs current account deficit at USD 50bn

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SME Times News Bureau | 16 Jan, 2014
India's current account deficit (CAD) this fiscal will be contained to around USD 50 billion, Finance Minister P.Chidambaram said Wednesday.

"Our efforts to contain the CAD have yielded good results. I am glad to be able to say that current account deficit - or the amount by which value of imports exceeds the value of goods and services exported - in the current year will be approximately US dollars 50 billion," Chidamabarm said in his valedictory address at the Petrotech 2014 international oil and gas conference here.

"Last year, we faced the daunting number of USD 88 billion," the finance minister said, adding that oil imports alone amounted to USD 164 billion.

"Energy is a key resource and hydrocarbons have become the focus of all policy planners in every large country," Chidambaram said, underlining the importance of the four-day conference that ended Wednesday.

Commenting on the country's fiscal deficit, Chidambaram said the government will continue to reduce it.

"I have reiterated my unflinching commitment to contain the fiscal deficit to 4.8 percent of GDP. We will continue to reduce it by 0.8 percent each year till we reach under 3 percent in 2016-17," he said.

The deficit in the first eight months of the fiscal year has crossed 90 percent of the yearly target.