Finance Minister Arun Jaitley speaking in the Plenary Meeting of the Development Committee here emphasised the need for bigger financing and implementation plans by the World Bank Group to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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India has reiterated its call for quota reforms in the World Bank and global Monetary Fund, a top official said on Sunday.
He said that the current account deficit(CAD) in India has come down substantially to around 1.3 percent of GDP in 2014-15, which was around 4.8 percent two years earlier.
Similarly, he said that a couple of years back, India was suffering from double-digit inflation and now the inflation has dipped to a low of 3.7 per cent.
Mr. Jaitley said the global economic outlook outlined by the International Monetary Fund did not look particularly encouraging, which also had a bearing on India’s exports.
He also highlighted the reform steps taken by the government in the recent past to push for higher growth and increase resilience that include liberalisation of investment policy, policies and procedures to improve business climate, transparent policy on allocation of natural resources, etc. He said major taxation reforms were on the anvil, which required legislative action to become effective. In spite of these, he said, the economy grew 7.3 per cent during previous year, significantly better than 6.9 per cent recorded in 2013-14.
Consequently, the Finance Minister said that the country has witnessed a staggering 35 per cent increase in the indirect tax collections in the first six months of the current fiscal year. The issues discussed included Sustainable Development Goals, their implementation and monitoring and Climate Change Financing. He also participated in the G-24 Finance Ministers’ meeting.
Finance is central to realising a sustainable future for all people and the planet, the UN Secretary-General told ministers meeting in Lima, Peru, on Friday.
Moreover, a Finance Ministry statement further asserted that for now Jaitley is alluded to the doubtful surrounding that are related to the global economy recovery and put emphasis on the necessitate to discover quick alternative ways by which they can raise the vital resources which further will help the country to achieve the SDGs.
Mr. Jaitley said India faced the twin challenges of fighting poverty and investing in climate change.
The MDBs need to play a pro-active role as providers and facilitators of large scale, long term and affordable development finance from private and public sources.
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The Finance Minister has held bilateral meetings with US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, Finance Minister of France Michael Sapin, Finance Minister of China Lou Jiwei and other financial leaders from around the world.
