India: Economic slowdown warned

By APD Writer Rishika Chauhan

NEW DELHI, September 23 (APD)— According to a recent State Bank of India (SBI) report the Indian economy has slowed down since September 2016.

The report warned that, “the slowdown is real and not technical”, and stressed that more public spending is needed to check the slide.

“We certainly believe that we are in a slowdown mode since September 2016 and a slowdown that has been prolonged to first quarter of this fiscal year is technically not short-term in nature or even transient,” the SBI report highlighted.

The report called for increased government spending, emphasizing, “Need of the hour is to spend to grow more. We believe the government should consciously expand spending and fiscal deficit, without disturbing the borrowing maths.”

Though the report admitted that after the 2008 global credit crisis, spending had considerably increased in the country, however it warned: “Let’s not chase the rating upgrade mirage India has had a solitary net rating upgrade in the last 25 years. The economy is in urgent need of a fiscal push now to shore up growth.”

Finally, it recommended the government to do more buybacks and called for exploring the short-term borrowing route, explaining that short-term borrowings could be increased from the current levels, as movements in short-term rates depend crucially on liquidity.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)