''USD 5 trillion economy target will eradicate extreme poverty''

Former Union minister Jayant Sinha on Sunday said that at least extreme poverty could be eradicated when the country achieves the target of USD 5 trillion economy.

"What is the importance of the USD 5 trillion economy? We are USD 2 trillion economy. When we achieve the size of USD 5 trillion, production in the country will be around USD 3.5 trillion. If production reaches USD 3.5 trillion, we will be able to eradicate poverty from the country," the former MoS for Finance said.

"If we reach the targeted USD 3.5 trillion production in the next few years, then we will be able to eradicate poverty completely, at least the extreme one," he added. Sinha predicted the country's GDP in the range of more than 6 per cent in the next fiscal.

He said the Budget 2020-21 has the roadmap for promoting consumption, investment and innovation to achieve the targeted USD 5 trillion economy. When asked by reporters on freebies being offered to people by some state governments, Sinha said the BJP believed in empowering the masses by providing them resources.

He termed as "baseless" the Madhya Pradesh government's allegation that the Central government stopped allocation of funds to the tune of Rs 14,500 crore. "In fact, the Madhya Pradesh government is neither using the Central funds nor giving their utilisation certificate. The money is available on demand but the state government is not expediting work on various Central schemes," he said.