B20 FM Nirmala Sitharaman (Image: Twitter.com/Nirmala Sitharaman office)
Addressing the B20 global business meet at New Delhi, today evening, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman called attention to taming inflation. She said that, to tame inflation, more supply side measures needs to be adopted and not just through controlling interest rates by the Central Bank. She further touched upon the key priorities for sustained global economic recovery, India”s growth and the major sectors where the global business could join India.
“Central banks will have to keep in mind growth- priorities. Fiscal deficit needs to be restrained otherwise inflation will not be brought under control. Secondly, emphasis needs to be increased on investments to spur growth,” Ms Sitharaman said while listing out the priorities for sustainable economic recovery.
Finance minister, in her speech, stressed upon five priorities, primarily, taming inflation, saying that control of inflation should also be through supply side measures and not only through controlling of interest rates for sustained growth.
Watch: Smt @nsitharaman“s full address at a Special Plenary Session on ‘Key Priorities for Sustained Global Economic Recovery’ at #B20SummitIndia in New Delhi. @PIB_India @FollowCII @b20 @FinMinIndia @MIB_India https://t.co/CmMpGqXErB
— Nirmala Sitharaman Office (@nsitharamanoffc) August 25, 2023
Secondly, the emphasis on investment was to be increased, not just the public investment but should be complemented by private investment too. On this, the Indian govt is leading the public sector investments, giving the lead to private sector, she added that labour force participation and improving productivity were also important.
The third key point mentioned was to raise investment on public health and education. After the pandemic, most countries may not have enough resources to do this, but she pointed that this was a necessary step in moving ahead. Another key point for the sustenance of economy was climate change finance, while speaking of this she recalled that India funded its own commitments given in Paris and fulfilled its nationally determined commitments too, with its own resources. Stressing on this, she said that no individual country can sufficiently do enough for climate change but that it should be a global action.
The final key for sustaining economic recovery, she said was the diversification of supply chains. The world would not be able to take in one more shock, resilient and efficient supply chains should be developed for global stability and recovery.
On India, the minister touched upon the areas which could attract FDI’s including semiconductor mission, fintech sector and markets. She emphasised on global public private collaboration, saying that this would be India’s contribution to economic growth, both global and at national level.
B20 or Business 20, the official G20 dialogue forum, engaging the business community globally is taking place at New Delhi.
