Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to boost budget spending to support economic growth

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to strike a fine balance between being fiscally prudent and growth supportive when she presents her fourth straight budget on Tuesday, which is expected to have plans to boost spending to revive investment and create jobs.

The Budget for the fiscal year starting April 1, 2022 is likely to raise spending on infrastructure to set the economy on a firmer footing.

The stage for the Budget presentation was set by the Economic Survey stating that the government has the fiscal space to do more to support the economy that is forecast to grow at a healthy 8-8.5 per cent growth in the 2022-23 fiscal.

The budget comes days before the first phase of voting in Uttar Pradesh, which along with four other states is going to the polls to elect a new state government. And naturally, it is expected to contain measures for higher rural and agriculture spending.

Asia’s third-largest economy is estimated to expand 9.2 per cent in the fiscal year that ends in March, following a contraction of 7.3 per cent in the previous fiscal.

Analysts said the finance minister will have to strike a fine balance while keeping up the momentum of the country’s promising but fledgling economic recovery and tax collections, but at the same time look at bringing in measures to spur demand, create jobs and tackle…