New Delhi, December 11
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the CII Global Economic Policy Forum 2024 in New Delhi on Wednesday, highlighting critical global challenges and emphasizing the need for collaborative efforts to restore economic stability.
Speaking about the ongoing disruptions to global food value chains, the Finance Minister stressed the importance of avoiding conflicts and ensuring stability.
Sitharaman said, "The attempt, both of industry and governments everywhere should be to restore some global calm, restore some normalcy, talk, sit and discuss, War sud be avoided, disruptions should be avoided, they are the main cause for disruptions in food value chains. Inflation globally is a big challenge. Inflation doesn't respect borders."
Sitharaman pointed out that inflation remains a significant global challenge, transcending borders and impacting nations indiscriminately.
"Inflation is so contagious that nowhere is any country's effort today is completely successful, because beyond its powers are inflation, forces which come in," she said, linking the issue to global conflicts and their cascading effects on economies worldwide.
Highlighting fiscal responsibility, Sitharaman underscored the dangers of excessive borrowing and said, "Responsible economies can't be run with borrowings so large that the next generation and generation after that already knows what it is liable to repay."
She urged governments and industries to collaborate in managing national and sub-national debts, emphasizing the need for prudent fiscal management at both federal and provincial levels.
Touching upon the restoration of supply chains, the Finance Minister emphasized that the issue extends beyond economics.
Sitharaman stated, "It is absolutely important for governments and for industry to work together to say how best debt can be managed at the national and I hate using this word, but I would say at the sub national level, I mean the federal and the provincial level, it is important for us to manage our debt."
"When you talk of supply chains, when you talk of wanting to restore supply chains to some kind of ease, frictionless supply chain, lets not forget it is just not economics, it is more than that", she added.