FM: Government to make sure that debt burden isn’t passed on to future generation

The government is aware of managing the fiscal deficit and will make sure that the debt service burden is not transferred to future generations, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman’s statement on Friday.

Speaking here at the Kautilya Economic Conclave 2023, she stated that the government is considering its options for reducing the national debt.

“We are conscious of matters related to macro economic stability of the country and responsibility with which we deal with our fiscal and also the fiscal management and so for every decisions that we take today, we are conscious of what burden is going to leave for the next generations,” she said.

She said, “It is very easy to be a squanderer and leave the debt that you will be carrying for future generations.”

According to her, the government actively monitors information about the debt and debt management practices of certain emerging market nations. The government’s ability to effectively manage the debt load is attributed to its well-organized efforts to meet India’s aspirational requirements while also handling it responsibly to spare future generations from bearing the brunt of it, the speaker said. She claimed that during the Covid era, the government invested tax dollars in building public infrastructure in order to maximize the value of each rupee rather than giving money to those who were in need.

Sitharaman noted that India is opening up and bringing greater transparency through the digital economy and that digitization is the most effective tool for empowering citizens, who would have otherwise remained far from having their developmental aspirations met.