More borrowing, spending will be measure of Centre’s fiscal package: Chidambaram

Former finance minister and veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday said the additional borrowing and additional expenditure over and above the Expenditure Budget of Rs 30,42,230 crore will be the true measure of the fiscal stimulus rolled out by the Centre throughout this week.

"We are not agreed on the amount of additional expenditure involved in your PMGKY and 5-tranche economic package. When you do the additional borrowing we will know the answer," Chidambaram said in a series of tweets on his official Twitter handle.

The former finance minister was referring to the Centre's Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package meant to revive the Indian economy after the 55-day nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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In a tweet, he also thanked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for acknowledging that the additional expenditure can be met only by additional borrowing.

"The additional borrowing and additional expenditure (over and above the Expenditure Budget of Rs 30,42,230 crore) will be the true measure of the Fiscal Stimulus," Chidambaram said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the senior Congress leader had reacted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of releasing Rs 20 lakh crore as an economic stimulus package for the country amid the coronavirus health crisis.

The Congress leader had said that in the Centre's announcement, the Prime Minister had given a "headline" and a "blank page". Chidambaram had said that he looked forward to learning the details of the stimulus package which were at that point to be made public by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in separate announcements.

"Yesterday, PM gave us a headline and a blank page. Naturally, my reaction was a blank!" Chidambaram had tweeted.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had initially spoken about the economic package sans the details and had urged citizens to be more self-reliant in the post-Covid-19 world. .

In his reaction, Chidambaram had also said that every "additional rupee that the government will actually infuse into the economy will be carefully counted. What the package offers to the poor, migrant workers will also be carefully examined."

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