New Delhi, March 16 -- The government's Rs.57,300 crore economic stabilization fund has come at the right time, allowing its fiscal math to adjust to sudden geopolitical headwinds and supply chain disruptions. This is a textbook policy response, as the fund is designed to act as a shock absorber. It could help diffuse external economic jolts of the Iran war.

These are extraordinary times and the Centre should place pain reduction for households over the accuracy of its fiscal arithmetic, even though finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament that unplanned expenditure will not unsettle its deficit target for 2025-26.

The stabilization fund, introduced on 13 March through a supplementary demand for grants, affords the government...