LS-BUD-FM

Economy not in trouble; green shoots visible:FM

New Delhi, Feb 11 () Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Tuesday said the economy is not in trouble andgreen shoot are visible with the country moving towards a USD5 trillion economy.

Listing initiatives taken by the government, she said,increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), rise in factoryoutput and over Rs 1 lakh crore GST collection in the pastthree months are indications of green shoots in the economy.

"There are seven important indicators which show thatthere are green shoots in the economy...economy is not introuble," she said while replying to a debate on the UnionBudget in Lok Sabha.

Referring to visible indicators of green shoots, theFinance Minister said the forex reserve is at an all time highand the stock market is upbeat.

She said the government's focus is on four engines ofgrowth which include private investment, exports, private andpublic consumption.

With regard to public investment, she said, thegovernment in December announced a National InfrastructurePipeline.

It envisages investment of Rs 1.03 lakh crore forinfrastructure development across the country in the next fouryears (till 2024-25), she said.

To boost consumption, the government has increased theMinimum Support Price of all mandated Rabi and Kharif cropsfor 2019-20.

She further said the fiscal deficit was higher during theUPA regime "when the economy was managed by competentdoctors".

The minister was referring to remarks of Finance MinisterP Chidambaram on Monday that the "economy was perilously closeto collapse and was being attended by incompetent doctors." RR DP CSDV DV