New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he's ready to take unpopular steps to improve the nation's economy and fiscal health as his three-week-old government prepares to unveil its first federal budget next month.
"It's necessary to take steps to improve financial discipline and improve the economic health of the country," Modi said on June 14 in a speech in Goa that was posted on his website. "I know my popularity might go down due to these hard decisions, people might be annoyed with me, but they will appreciate it later."
Modi faces the challenge of reviving Asia's third-largest economy after his party became the first in 30 years to win a parliamentary majority in India. Growth is holding near a decade low and retail inflation has averaged about 10 percent in the past two years, eroding the purchasing power of more than 800 million people who live on less than $2 a day.
"Modi's comments suggest the seriousness the government is attaching to the fiscal correction," N.R. Bhanumurthy, an economist at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, a government-backed research institute in New Delhi, said by phone. "Fiscal indiscipline has been one of the main reasons behind India's economic woes."
