New Delhi, July 03: Chief Economic Advisor Arvind
Virmani today said India does not have a "god-given right" to
get back to high growth automatically without addressing the
problems thrown up by the economic slowdown on the fiscal,
financial, energy and investment front.
"Please do not be complacent... even though we have
survived the short-term shock fairly well, please do not
assume that this is some kind of a god-given right that we
will have high growth," Virmani, who is the principal author
of the Economic Survey that prescribed bold economic reforms,
told agencies in an interview.
However, the economy will grow at 7 per cent, plus or
minus 0.75 per cent, in the current fiscal, if the US economic
downturn bottoms out by September and monsoon is normal, he
said.
But to sustain long-run high growth, certain problems
need to be addressed, he added.
Broadly, there are four issues that need to be attended
to for the economy to return to a high growth path for a
longer period, say, some decade and not for five to six years,
he said.
On the fiscal front, he said there was no way out but to
expand the fiscal deficit for filling the gap created by the
fall in export and private demand in the local economy.
The stimulus packages by way of increase in government
expenditure and cut in taxes to boost private and investment
demand widen fiscal deficit, he said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, July 03, 2009, 23:49