Treasury benches did not allow debate on budget: Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday said that the treasury benches did not allow debate in Parliament on the budget.

Chidambaram statement comes after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the discussion on budget did not happen.

Chidambaram said, "Who was responsible for the Budget being passed without debate? It is for the first time in Indian parliamentary history that the Treasury Benches started the din and disruption and forestalled debate."

He further said according to the World Bank, the five year average growth of the Modi government (2019-2024) will be 4.08 per cent and even the sequential annual growth rates after the Corona-affected year show a declining trend

"The only one boasting about the growth rate is the Government" he added.

A World Bank report released on Tuesday said India's GDP is expected to slide down to 6.3 per cent in 2023-24 as against its earlier estimate of 6.6 per cent, mainly due to consumption falling owing to higher borrowing costs.

Since May last year, the Reserve Bank of India has been hiking interest rates to control inflation.

In its 'India Development Update', the World Bank said that economic growth is likely to be impacted due to sluggish consumption growth, coupled with challenging external factors.

"Rising borrowing costs and slower income growth will weigh on private consumption growth and government consumption is projected to grow at a slower pace due to the withdrawal of pandemic-related fiscal support measures," it said.

According to the report, India's current account deficit is also likely to come down to 2.1 per cent in 2023-24, as against 3 per cent in 2022-23.