Govt indulging in ‘vain boasts’ on GDP growth: Chidambaram

Attacking the government over the state of the economy, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday said instead of indulging in “vain boasts” it should put out a reasoned paper on why it expects real GDP growth to be over 8 per cent in 2022-23.

The for mer finance minister also asked what is the government’s explanation for a “shrinking workforce” and a “growing number of unemployed” registered in the employment exchanges. In a series of tweets, Chidambaram lauded global investor Ruchir Sharma’s op-ed in a newspaper on Monday and said it must be made compulsory reading for the ministers in the Modi government.

“Instead of indulging in vain boasts the government should put out a reasoned paper on why it expects real GDP growth to be over 8 per cent in 2022- 23,” he said. “The Government should also answer my question in the RS: if nominal GDP growth will be 11.1 per cent and real GDP growth will be 8 per cent, does the government assert that inflation will be about only 3 per cent?” Chidambaram said.

He also asked the government to explain why it is pursuing “rejected policies like self-sufficiency (protectionism) and deglobalisation”. Will policies that may work for developed countries work for a developing country with low per capita income like India, he further asked.