Indian Finance Minister Urges World Bank to Avoid “Unidimensional” View of Subsidies
Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany Svenja Schulze, left, and Minister of Finance of India Nirmala Sitharaman shake hands during the Development Committee meeting at the 2022 annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, in Washington. AP/PTI Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while speaking at an intervention of the World Bank Development Committee’s meeting, urged the World Bank to avoid having a “unidimensional” view of the subsidies that the Indian government provides. She asserted that it is important to differentiate between “distortive subsidies” and “targeted support” to vulnerable households. She said that the subsidies have made a definitive contribution in improving India’s performance on some key parameters of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). “We urge the Bank to avoid a unidimensional view of subsidies. It is important to differentiate between distortive subsidies and targeted support to the vulner