Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram acknowledged that every minister, including himself, has “hidden some numbers” even as he accused the government of going beyond the limits.
Every minister, including myself, has hidden some numbers and I'm not denying that, exigencies are like that. But this government has gone beyond all limit.P Chidambaram, Former Finance Minister
While talking about transparency in budget numbers, the Congress leader told BloombergQuint that there are off-budget borrowings but the scale at which it is done makes all the difference. “One or two months you can adjust it. But it will show up again, if it doesn't show up in March 31, it will show up in June 30. But these guys are doing it wholesale which is questionable,” Chidambaram said.
Nobody believes the numbers released by the Modi government including Indian economists abroad, he said. They have changed the base year which is okay, they have changed the methodology, the deflator, so much so that for the first time, our numbers are not being believed in the world, he said.
Watch the full interview here:
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