P Chidambaram happy with Jaitley's tone of moderation

Chidambaram said that demonetisation and its inevitable consequences have demoralised the government.

New Delhi, Feb 2: Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday termed the budget for 2017-18 a "damp squib" but praised Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for adopting a "tone of moderation" after the demonetisation policy.

"Our conclusion, on reading all the budget documents, was that the exercise has turned out to be a damp squib. But, there are a few positives, which we are happy with. The most important positive is that the government seems chastened after the debacle of demonetisation and has not done anything reckless or disruptive," said Chidambaram.

Complimenting Jaitley, the Congress leader said: "It is obvious that demonetisation and its inevitable consequences have demoralised the government."

"They have retreated from reforms and have no answers to the severe challenges faced by the economy. There is nothing in the budget that points to measures to revive flagging growth."

IANS