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| Thursday, 5 February 2004 |
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Indian Govt presents upbeat interim budget NEW DELHI, Wednesday (AFP) India's government, aiming for re-election on a resurgent economy, lifted its growth forecast for the current fiscal year to between 7.5 percent and 8.0 percent Tuesday as it announced a grab bag of vote-getting measures in an interim budget. The ruling Hindu nationalists, who are campaigning on the slogan "India Shining" for polls expected in April-May, had earlier projected growth of about seven percent for Asia's third-largest economy. The new forecast for the year to March puts India among the world's fastest-expanding economies, but still behind China's 8.5 percent growth. "The country's macroeconomic situation is better than it has ever been in the last 50 years," said Finance Minister Jaswant Singh as he presented the interim budget, which will fund ministries until after elections. In a surprise move, the BJP-led coalition government also cut its deficit target for 2003-2004 to 4.8 percent of gross domestic product from 5.6 percent estimated earlier. It said the deficit would be 4.4 percent of GDP next year. The country's finances were helped by better tax revenues and tighter spending control. The economy expanded by just 4.0 percent in the previous fiscal year after the monsoon rains failed in the nation where 70 percent of the one billion-plus population depend on agriculture for a living. |
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