The government may re-visit restrictions on gold imports shortly, once it has a “firm grip" on the current account deficit, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday.
“I am confident that by the end of this year, we will be able to revisit some of the restrictions on gold import. But we will do so only when we are absolutely sure that we have a firm grip on the current account deficit," Chidambaram said at an event here
He added that there was an increase of up to 3 tonne in gold smuggling owing to the restrictions on import. “If we had not imposed restrictions, there was no way we could have managed balance of payments or the current account deficit," he said.
The long-term way to control the current account deficit is not by restraining gold imports, but by increase exports, Chidambaram said.
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