Budget 2019: Our government broke the back of back-breaking inflation, says Finance Minister Piyush Goyal

New Delhi [India], Feb 1 (ANI): Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said that his government has been able to “break the back of back-breaking inflation” in the past around five years, which has now come down to average at 4.6 per cent.
Referring to the state of inflation during the regime of UPA under then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, averaging as high as 10.1 per cent, Finance Minister Goyal said: “In contrast to that, our government broke the back-breaking inflation. We have brought down average inflation to 4.6 per cent, which is lower than the inflation during the tenure of any other government.”
Goyal said in his Budget speech in the Lok Sabha: "Inflation is a hidden and unfair tax. From 10.4 per cent during 2009-14, it came down to 2.19 per cent in December 2018. We have broken the back of back-breaking inflation.”
“If we would not have controlled inflation, our families would have spent 35-40 per cent more today on basic necessities such as food, travel, consumer durables, and housing,” he said, adding that India’s economic growth is back on track with inflation and fiscal deficit under control.
At the same time, fiscal deficit has been brought down to 3.4 per cent in the revised estimate of 2018-19. “I can confidently say that India is solidly back on track and marching towards growth and prosperity, said Goyal.
“From being the 11th largest economy in the world in 2013-14, we are today the 6th largest in the world,” said Finance Minister Goyal.
The Reserve Bank (RBI) had cut the retail inflation target, a key input to decide monetary policy, to 2.7-3.2 per cent for the second half of the current fiscal ending March 2019 on expectations of a normal monsoon and moderate food prices. (ANI)