New Delhi, Feb 13 (FN Bureau) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would address the central board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday and outline the priorities of the government to boost the economy. Following the presentation of Union Budget, it has been a customary meeting of the Finance Minister every year with the central board members of the RBI and share the highlights of the Budget. In her fourth Budget on February 1, Sitharaman laid emphasis on capex to accelerate economic growth and announced to raise capex target for financial year 2022-23 by 35.4 per cent year-on-year to Rs 7.5 lakh crore.
The proposed increase in the public expenditure outlay would be 2.9 per cent of the country’s GDP. The increased public spending is expected to crowd-in private investment and push growth. Instead of direct cash transfers as suggested by some experts, the Budget has continued focus on building productive assets which would create demand and jobs in the economy. Instead of fiscal consolidation, the Budget has gone for higher public spending. It has pegged the fiscal deficit at 6.4 per cent of GDP in FY23. The government has estimated the nominal GDP growth of 11.1 per cent in financial year 2022-23 and reach Rs 258 lakh crore in financial year 2022-23 as against Rs 232 lakh crore in 2021-22 (Revised Estimate).