As the country battles the fall in rupee and the hike in fuel prices, the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has reiterated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central Government is confident of strictly maintaining the fiscal deficit target at 3.3 per cent.

Addressing the media Jaitley said, “The Prime Minister took a review of the various departments of the Ministry of Finance, following which he expressed his satisfaction with regard to the broad parameters in relation to the economy and the macroeconomic parameters which are emerging this year. The government is confident and will strictly maintain the 3.3 per cent fiscal deficit target.”

“As far as capital expenditure is concerned, which is necessary for maintaining a high trajectory growth, already we have spent about 44 per cent of the budgeted expenditure till August 31 and we’ll end the year without any cuts and will maintain the 100 per cent capital expenditure,” Jaitley added.

The Finance Minister also expressed the government’s confidence in maintaining a growth rate higher than what was projected in the budget earlier this year, adding that the inflation is broadly under control.

Jaitley further stated that the government was ahead of schedule as far as the direct tax collection was concerned and that the impact of the anti-black money measures – Demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government– was apparent.