A question of the debts of the union government was asked in the Lok Sabha by All India Trinamool Congress member
Sajda Ahmed during the question hour.
Responding to the question asked, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre has a debt of Rs 1,97,45,670 crore.
Sajda Ahmed also asked whether the Union Government is seeing the debt amount as a matter of concern or not.
However, Nirmala Sitharaman said the debt amount is not a concern for the government as it had taken concrete policies
The debt amount translates to 60.5 percent of the Gross domestic product (GDP). To see that the debt burden won’t affect, the government is focusing on bringing down the fiscal deficit.
In 2021-22, the fiscal deficit is at 6.8 percent GDP and the government is aiming at reducing the deficit to less than 4.5 percent by the financial year 2025-26.
Giving more details on Nirmala Sitharaman said, the efforts made by the Centre in regard to the debt consolidation includes monetisation of assets that come under Public Sector Enterprises.
Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of India to
During the question hour in the house, a question on assessment of the repayment capacity of the public debt was also shot at her.
In a written reply to the question, Nirmala Sitharaman said the government had made a good assessment on the capacity and the debt expectations were within the limits of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also told the lower house of the Parliament, Lok Sabha that the union government had gathered Rs 31,290 crore from the Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) Scheme since its inception.
Elaborating further on the SGB Scheme that was launched in 2015, Nirmala Sitharaman said the scheme was brought with an intention to have an alternative to buying or possessing physical gold.
The scheme comes with a guarantee from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The bonds will be issued on the grounds of the payments that were made. The bonds were given in a way that entitles the gold in grams.
