Budget fiscally conservative

New Delhi: NITI Aayog vice chairman Suman Bery on Friday described Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's pre-election budget as 'fiscally conservative' and exuded confidence that the government will achieve the fiscal deficit target of 4.5 per cent of GDP by 2025-26. Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in the Modi government's last budget before general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups. "I think the interim budget is fiscally conservative, actually opens new ground and provides indications of what might figure in the actual major budget, which will be presented in July," he told in an interview.

Bery further said the fiscal outcome of this year's budget is better than what was anticipated. "We are going to achieve 4.5 per fiscal deficit target for 2025-26 as it is important, both in substance and for signal," he added.