Interim Budget 2019 to be decided by economic realities, says Jaitley

Finance minister slams Opposition parties, calls them 'Nawabs of Negativity' and 'Compulsive Contrarians'

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday that the interim Budget, to be presented on February 1, will be within the existing conventions. Its contents, however, will be dictated by economic compulsions and realities of the day, he added.

Amid concerns over his health, Jaitley was speaking live from New York and addressing an event in Mumbai organised by CNBC TV-18. Ahead of the next meeting of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), Jaitley also said that real interest rates in India cannot be higher than most major economies.

“There is a convention for interim Budgets, on