A few days ago, our Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a very interesting comment. She was responding to a question on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF meetings and she said — “First of all I would look at it as not rupee sliding, I would look at it as dollar strengthening.” This statement riled up a lot of people. The rupee has already lost nearly 10% of its value compared to the dollar in the past year. On Wednesday it breached the ₹83 mark. And needless to say, this is deeply concerning. A weak rupee translates to a higher import bill and this is most obvious when you consider the price of oil. It’s already on the rise and you throw in a weak currency and it becomes even more expensive. This gives way to inflation and it hurts everyone. And so you could argue that Ms Sitharaman’s comments are deeply insensitive. I mean — What’s the difference eh? The rupee depreciates, the dollar strengthens — it’s all the same no? 

Well no. I discuss all of it in deep in this latest podcast.

#usdollar #rupee #podcast #currentaffairs #modi #economy #nirmalasitharaman