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Policy intervention to continue when needed: Sitharaman
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SME Times News Bureau | 17 Dec, 2019
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday dismissed questions on a
time period on the uptick probability of the economy amidst rising
inflation and contracted factory output and second quarter GDP growth
falling to 4.5% saying she would continue to intervene in the economy
when and wherever needed.
"I am not engaging in any prediction
based questions, neither will I answer speculations. I am looking at the
economy and I will continue to address the problem of the industry and
any crisis. I am here to intervene in the economy when needed," she said
in response to a barrage of questions on the probable time period of a
higher growth return of the Indian economy.
"Till now, sectors
that have demanded some kind of intervention, we have responded to them.
I'll be keen to see whether these steps are meeting the expectations of
the sectors. If not, I may want to see if I need to do more. As of now,
there is no other sector that has approached me as yet.
"I will
not engage in speculations over retail inflation and interest rates,"
the FM said after being asked if there is a possibility of no more
interest rate cuts by RBI in view of the high inflation."
Ironically,
she started the media interaction saying, "We are here to put various
legislative measures that we have taken and to come back to say where we
are on the various announcements that were made before the Parliament
session commenced for winter session and what progress has been made
prior to the budget session."
On the possibility of a review of
GST rates at the upcoming Council meeting, she said she and her team
(the Finance Ministry) has not said anything on that.
"There has
been no discussion of changing the GST rate in the Finance Ministry so
far", she said. But she also dismissed the possibility that it is
completely off the table.
Her response comes amidst reports that
the Centre will propose hiking the 5% rate slab. The Centre may propose
hiking the 5% GST rate to between 6% and 8%. The GST officers panel will
suggest rate restructuring in the next GST meet on December 18.
On
the review of compensation cess to states under GST, she said no one is
denying that the states have a right to the compensation amount.
With
states not being paid compensation for loss of revenue from
implementation of GST since August, Sitharaman had on Thursday assured
that the Centre will honour its commitment but did not say by when the
dues will be cleared.
States -- that surrendered powers to
collect taxes on goods and services after local levies got subsumed into
the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1, 2017 -- were through
legislation guaranteed to be paid for any loss of revenue in the first
five years of GST implementation.
This monthly compensation was to be paid within two months but states haven't received any such amount since August 2019.
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