Government put economy in 'cold storage': Priyanka Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday hit out at the Modi government over recent economic growth estimates, saying that the government should have given maximum attention to the economy but the matter of improving the economy was put in "cold storage".

"The BJP government should have given maximum attention to the economy, but now the matter of improving the economy has been put in cold storage. Estimates of GDP growth show that the situation is not good. The biggest impact of this is on trade, the poor, daily wage labourers and employment," she said in a series of tweets attaching a news report.

"And the government has not taken any concrete steps towards these," she said.

Her remarks came a day after the government said that the growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) during 2019-20 was estimated at 5 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 6.8 per cent in 2018-19. The figures show a massive drop in growth rates following deceleration in key sectors of industry and core sectors and now presage an 11-year drop in GDP growth.

In Q2, the growth had dropped to 4.5 per cent. "The real GDP or GDP at constant prices (2011-12) in the year 2019-20 is likely to attain a level of Rs 147.79 lakh crore, as against the Provisional Estimate of GDP for the year 2018-19 of Rs 140.78 lakh crore, released on 31st May 2019. The growth in real GDP during 2019-20 is estimated at 5 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 6.8 per cent in 2018-19," the Statistics & Programme Implementation Ministry said.

The National Statistical Office (NSO), under the ministry, released the first advance estimates of national income at both constant (2011-12) and current prices, for the financial year 2019-20, along with the corresponding estimates of expenditure components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).