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Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) K V Subramanian has hinted that the government is open to coming out with more measures to boost the economy which has been hit by the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
He, however, added that the demand for a fresh stimulus package has to be considered against the backdrop of a host of initiatives taken by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget for 2021-22 presented in February.
The Chief Economic Advisor was responding to a suggestion made by some industry bodies that the government needed to come out with a Rs 3 lakh crore stimulus package to boost the economy which was badly hit by the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in April-May.
According to an assessment by the Reserve Bank, the second wave has cost the nation about Rs 2 lakh crore in terms of output lost.
‘Like last year, we do remain very open to coming up with more measures as well…but I think it is really important to take into account the big differences between last year and this year when we talk about stimulus,’ he told PTI in an interview.
Elaborating his point, the CEA said that unlike the previous budget which was framed before the pandemic, the 2021 budget was presented amid the pandemic and had already incorporated significant fiscal expansion.
