"Criminal To Let Economy Ruin At This Pace": Congress On GDP Forecast Cut

The Congress on Wednesday expressed concern over international agencies slashing their GDP growth forecasts for India and alleged the government's "gross negligence" led the economy to ruin.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said any reduction in GDP numbers means more joblessness, lesser income, lesser productivity and fewer avenues of investment. The government is in denial and refuses to accept that the country's growth is slowing down, she alleged.

She said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has for the second time in a row reduced India's GDP growth forecast to 6.8 per cent from the earlier 7.4 per cent for this year.

This is a steep cut and it is not the IMF alone which has done so, she said, adding other agencies like World Bank, ADB, Fitch, Moody's and UNCTAD are also reducing India's growth forecasts. Even the RBI has reduced the GDP projections thrice, she noted.

"The government refuses to accept there is an economic crisis. The government refuses to accept that growth is going down, despite the fact that the RBI has actually accepted it as the third storm, the Chief Economic Advisor has accepted the challenges. but (Prime Minister) Modi and (Finance Minister) Sitharaman do not seem to pay heed to that," she told reporters.

"What is happening with the Indian economy is not just gross negligence, it is actually criminal to let the economy ruin at the pace at which it is," she alleged.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also expressed concern over the high inflation figures released by the government.

"Govt data released today shows consumer price index in Sept saw highest rate of increase in 5 months and retail food price inflation was 8.6 per cent, up 1 per cent from previous month. But does the PM care? FM went to a Chennai market that made for nice visuals but price rise continues unabated," he asked.

Ms Shrinate said India is growing at 6.8 per cent with its economy of USD 3 trillion, while China is growing at 4.4 per cent for a USD 19 trillion economy and USA at 1 per cent for its USD 21 trillion economy and the growth is not comparable.

"Each Indian is bearing the cost of the gross negligence and the diversionary tactics of this government, people in this government will tell you how we are the fastest growing economy. There has never been a more foolish argument made in the world...than this," she alleged.

She said the government's problem is high prices, and asked why petrol and diesel prices are not coming down even when crude oil prices have gone down in the global oil market.

"Why are we not reducing prices and why do we continue to levy cess on every litre of fuel being sold to fill up our own coffers and not of the states, is a huge question," she said.

The Congress leader said the consistently weakening rupee is a huge cause of concern as well. She noted the current account deficit, which has been widening consistently, is at the level of nearly 3.4 per cent for this year.

"So many problems but the government continues to be in denial," she alleged.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)