New Delhi: Soon after Finance Minister P Chidambaram tabled Budget 2007 in Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh termed it as "anti-inflationary". He added that the prime focus of the Budget was on education and healthcare.
While stating that the Centre was committed on increasing the spending on the social infrastructure, the Prime Minister added, "Education and healthcare are the primary imperatives as fas as this budget is concerned."
Singh said that the budget put a lot of emphasis on improving access to social services and social safety net.
Also, adequate measures have been taken to tackle the rising inflation in this budget: "The fact that the fiscal consolidation program is on target and there is a revenue deficit reduction, we are moving in the set direction. That itself should be an assurance that inflation will not be allowed to get out of hand."
The Prime Minister, an economist by profession, pointed out that the whole system of reduction of custom and excise duties would also strengthen the anti-inflationary bias of the Budget.
When questioned on the rising prices of food items, Singh said, "if we fall short of supply, we can always import. Last year, we imported 5.5 million tonnes."
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