“To become a $ 5 trillion economy, real GDP growth will have to be 8%”

New Delhi, July 05 (HS): Welcoming the Economic Survey’s emphasis on fiscal consolidation and fiscal discipline and investments, especially private investments, as the growth driver, Bibek Debroy, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister has said that to become a $ 5 trillion economy, real GDP growth will have to be eight per cent.

“In the last five years, India’s average rate of real GDP growth has been 7.5 per cent and Survey’s projections are that, to become a $ 5 trillion economy by 2024-25, with an annual rate of inflation of 4 per cent, real GDP growth will have to be 8 per cent. This is doable,” he added.

But he has also a word of caution. “One should not deviate from the path of fiscal consolidation that was set out in the Medium Term Fiscal Policy Statement, articulated both in terms of the fiscal deficit/GDP ratio and the debt/GDP ratio,” Debroy said.

The Economic Survey has laid out a blue-print for growth and jobs in the next five years. This draws on initiatives the first Narendra Modi government initiated between 2014 and 2019, including initiatives to change behaviour. There is a continuity between the policies from 2014 and 2019 and the expected policies from 2019 to 2024.