NEW DELHI: A day after pegging the central economic package at 1.6 per cent of the GDP, the Congress further downgraded it today to 0.91 per cent of the GDP on Monday.
Former finance minister and Congress veteran P Chidambaram said: “The fiscal stimulus package is not for Rs 20 lakh crore. It is only for Rs 1,86,650 crore. That’s 0.91 per cent of the GDP. Remember that number and we will know the truth in course of time.”
The former FM also demanded an immediate meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on finance to scrutinise the fiscal stimulus package of the government and said attempts were being made to sidestep the parliament.
Chidambaram spoke a day after his colleague Anand Sharma termed the package as 1.6 per cent of the GDP and not 10 per cent as the Prime Minister had said while announcing it.
Chidambaram also said the package had fallen way short of expectations of the poor, vulnerable and migrants and sought a comprehensive package in excess of budget provisions.
“The stimulus is totally inadequate given the seriousness of the economic crisis. We request the government to reconsider the package. The government is being opportunistic by resorting to reforms. We demand a comprehensive stimulus of not less than Rs 10 lakh crore of real additional expenditure which is equivalent to ten per cent of the GDP,” said Chidambaram.