Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the centre's priority is to tame inflation
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today highlighted how the central government has been consistently carrying out reforms for the past nine years with stable results, while reforms earlier were erratic.
The government did not stop carrying out reforms even during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said in her address at the B20 Summit.
"We are the fastest-growing economy and our domestic investment is robust. The Q1 GDP data for FY23-24 will come soon. Nobody has a clue, but everybody feels the Q1 numbers went well, so everything should be good," Ms Sitharaman said.
"Earlier reforms happened, but their results were erratic. In the last nine years... reforms even during Covid happened because we thought it was an opportunity rather than a challenge," she added.
Recalling the massive global disruption by the Covid pandemic, Ms Sitharaman said focusing on investment in health and education are India's priorities.
"This should be the priority, globally. Health systems are collapsing even in developed countries. If money is not invested, we'll be in a health crisis," Ms Sitharaman said.
On measure to control inflation and increase government revenue, she said the government has been carrying out stable policies.
"We now have a government that is stable in terms of policies, which doesn't just want more revenue by hiking taxes," the Finance Minister said.
She said the "obsession" with rate hikes won't completely control inflation. "Obsession with using rate hikes as a tool to control inflation, and not manage supply, will not give a complete solution to inflation... The task for central banks is to keep in mind growth while they look at controlling inflation," Ms Sitharaman said.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), had, however, hiked rates six consecutive times aggregating to 250 basis points from May 2022 to April this year, when it finally paused.
The three-day B20 Summit started today. Business 20 or B20 is one of the G20 forums representing the global business community, which was set up in 2010. The G20 Summit will be held next month.