A fiscal road map

Govt must decide fast on the timing and amount of stimulus

The government has not yet decided either the amount or the timing of another fiscal stimulus to revive the economy, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told this newspaper in an interview on Wednesday. This is surprising, considering that time is indeed running out. The ambivalence is clearly reflected in the government’s borrowing plan for the current year, which has been left unchanged at Rs 12 trillion this week. The government is of the view that with an improvement in revenue collection, it would not require additional borrowing during the year. However, this will obviously change once it