The former Finance Minister and BJP MP, Mr Yashwant Sinha, has said the Union Budget 2011-12 proposals will have an inflationary impact on the economy. He also hinted at a possible hike in petroleum product prices as an impact of the Budget proposals.

Mr Sinha was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here on Saturday.

“There are proposals in this budget, which I think will make it inflationary. They were very carefully camouflaged in the budget speech of the Finance Minister,” Mr Sinha said, adding that increase in price of products such as cement and coal will have a cascading effect on the economy.

Pointing out that the budget was not an “aam aadmi” budget, he said that a thorough study of the fine print of the budget will show that imposition of taxes on various products will lead to inflation. Inflation till January was at 8.23 per cent.

“His (Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's) subsidy figures will show that the government is planning to raise petroleum product prices, which has a multiplier effect across the economy. There will be higher rates of inflation in the coming months,” he said.

BOFORS

Coming down heavily on the subsequent Congress-led governments in power at the Centre, the Senior BJP leader said that Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi would not have gone scot-free had the government not weakened the case.

“The case was considerably weakened by Congress-led governments, including the present one. The court had no option but to close the case. If they had actively pursued the case, Quattrocchi would not have walked free,” Mr Sinha said.

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