Congress slams Centre over GDP hitting 11-year low, questions continuous slide in economy

The Congress party on Friday lashed out at the Centre after the Gross Domestic Product for the 4th quarter of the Fiscal Year 2019-20 showed a growth rate of only 3.1%. Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh stated that this was the lowest GDP growth rate in the last 44 quarters and also pointed out that the full year's GDP at 4.2% was the lowest in 11 years. He called for accountability to be fixed for the continuous slide in the economy since the last 4 years. Vallabh also sought an explanation from the Union government regarding the alleged failure of the 'Make in India' initiative. Moreover, he urged the Centre to accept the failure of demonetization and the faulty implementation of the GST.

Read: Eurozone Economy To Shrink By 8% To 12% In 2020 Due To Pandemic Crisis: ECB

Read: FRTWA President Urges Maha Govt To Allow Opening Of Shops; Seeks Revival Of Retail Economy

Congress flags concerns about the economy

Commenting on the fall in the GDP growth rate, Vallabh flagged specific concerns about the economy. First, he contended that the negative growth of manufacturing indicated a total failure of the 'Make in India' initiative. He opined that the factory output contracting by 16% was harmful to the MSME sector and a cause for high unemployment. According to him, the country's strength had been dented because of the wrong economic policies. He buttressed this point by highlighting the fall in the GDP growth rate of the Services sector from 5.7% to 4.4% in Q4 of FY20.

Furthermore, the Congress spokesperson said that the negative growth of the construction sector pointed towards high unemployment among the migrant workers. Thereafter, he accused the Centre of pushing the country into deep debt by the recently unveiled stimulus package. Vallabh asserted that these figures proved that India was struggling through a prolonged economic slowdown even before the increase in COVID-19 cases. 

Read: Coronavirus Live Updates: India's Cases At 165799 With 4706 Dead; Recovery Rate At 42.89%

Currently, there are 1,65,799 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 71,106 patients have been discharged while 4,706 casualties have been reported. To ameliorate the concerns of various sections of the society hit by the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Centre unveiled a plethora of measures as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package. This financial package amounts to over Rs.20 lakh crore. 

Read: Goa Congress Demands CM Sawant Release A White Paper On Economy, Claims 'mismanagement'