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To early to judge impact of sanctions: Ahluwalia
The nuclear explosions and the resultant sanctions on India by the developed world would not have any bearing on the forthcoming Union Budget for 1998-99, which will be presented as per schedule, Finance Secretary Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Tuesday. There are no problems in presenting the Budget because of the economic sanctions. It will come as per schedule on June 1, Ahluwalia said. Regarding the sanctions and its effects on the economy, he said, it was too early to say anything. The impact and the effects of sanctions could not be judged in the first week. "Let us wait for some time and only then would we get to know the direction of the sanctions and their impact on the economy.'' He refused to comment further on the sanctions. Meanwhile, RBI Governor Bimal Jalan said he was not worried about the present currency market situation. The rupee had been on an upswing since India conducted the nuclear tests recently. However, according to Jalan, there was nothing to be alarmed about. However, he refused to give further details on the situation and the steps the RBI was taking to control further devaluation of the rupee against the dollar.