P Chidambaram's Swipe At Budget 2023, "7% Economic Growth Not Possible"

Veteran Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday took a jibe at the Budget 2023 presented by the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led central government and said that growth will not be 7 per cent this year as claimed by the government.

Notably, according to the Economic Survey 2022-23, the economy is expected to grow at 7 per cent in real terms for the year ending March 2023. This follows an 8.7 per cent growth in the previous financial year.

While talking to the media, Chidambaram said, "They have reduced the subsidy on fertilizer and food. How can this be accepted? The growth will not be 7 per cent this year as the central government claims."

"They (BJP) have announced this budget on the basis that the government will invest and this country will grow faster. But this is not possible. It is neither economical nor practical," he added.

The Congress leader further explained the reason behind his claim and highlighted the statistics.

He said, "A country's growth rate will increase only if private investment is high. In the current year (22-23) Rs 7.50 crores were said to be invested by the government but 7.50 lakhs could not be invested. Only 7 lakh 28 thousand crores can be invested out of which 22,000 crores is reduced. But now they say that ten lakh crores are being invested. 7.5 lakh crore could not be done in 12 months how can we invest 10 lakh crore now?"

India is expected to witness GDP growth of 6.0 per cent to 6.8 per cent in 2023-24, depending on the trajectory of economic and political developments globally.

The Economic Survey 2022-23 projects a baseline GDP growth of 6.5 per cent in real terms in the next financial year. The projection is broadly comparable to the estimates provided by multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, the IMF, and the ADB and by RBI domestically.

The optimistic growth forecasts stem from a number of positives like the rebound of private consumption giving a boost to production activity, higher Capital Expenditure (Capex), near-universal vaccination coverage enabling people to spend on contact-based services, such as restaurants, hotels, shopping malls, and cinemas, as well as the return of migrant workers to cities to work in construction sites leading to a significant decline in housing market inventory, the survey said.

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