The Congress party has called on the government to take bold action to tackle the slowing economy after recent reports showed a drop in expected GDP growth. A senior Congress leader, Jairam Ramesh, pointed out that the forecasted GDP growth for the financial year 2024-25 is only 6.4%, which is the lowest in four years. This is a big drop from the previous year’s growth of 8.2%.
Ramesh argues that this growth slowdown sets a sad tone for the upcoming Union Budget. He believes we need to support the poor, raise wages for workers under programs like MGNREGA, and increase minimum support prices for farmers. He also suggested that the government should make the complicated GST system easier and provide tax relief for middle-class families.
Ramesh highlighted that people are buying less and less, which hurts the economy. For example, spending by households has decreased, and car sales are at a four-year low. Many CEOs agree that the middle class is shrinking, and this lack of spending is making businesses hesitant to invest in new projects.
In fact, the government’s own reports say that private sector investment is also slowing down. It’s become worse, with new projects dropping by 21% this year while the government’s spending on infrastructure projects is lagging. By November, the government had only spent about half of its announced investment budget, and this is 12% less than last year.
Ramesh also shared that household savings are declining, suggesting that families are facing tough times even after the pandemic. He stressed that the government needs to take serious actions to improve the economy and support the people before the next budget is presented on February 1.
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