AFP, New Delhi :India’s embattled government said Monday it had lifted tens of millions of people out of poverty as it announced an interim budget ahead of elections that it is widely tipped to lose.Finance Minister P. Chidambaram trumpeted the Congress-led government’s achievements during its decade in office, as he presented the budget to cover spending until the general elections due by May.Struggling to be heard above protesting lawmakers, Chidambaram steered clear of a populist spending spree to win over voters, despite almost certain defeat at the polls to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Chidambaram said the fiscal deficit would be contained at 4.6 percent of gross domestic product in the current financial year, beating his own target of 4.8 percent.The minister estimated that the fiscal deficit would shrink further to 4.1 percent in the next financial year.”I can confidently assert that the fiscal deficit is declining, the current account deficit is constrained, inflation is moderated; exchange rate is stable,” the minister told the parliament.”All of this is a result of hard work, my mother and Harvard (University) taught me the value of hard work,” he said.”I reject the argument of policy paralysis,” he added.”Let history be the judge of the last 10 years.”Asia’s third largest economy is facing the worst economic slowdown in a decade, with growth at 4.5 percent last year, along with shrinking manufacturing, poor jobs growth and stubbornly high inflation.
