EAC growth projection for FY09 at 8.5%

The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (EAC) has retained its projection for economic growth at 8.5 per cent for the next fiscal, despite a slowdown in the industrial sector and rising inflation.

"I think that (GDP growth of 8.5 per cent in 2008-09) should still hold," Council Chairman C Rangarajan said. Earlier, reacting to slowdown in industrial growth for the month of January, he had said GDP growth next fiscal would depend on "whether the trend in industrial production will reverse or not".

What has happened to consumer durable sector can reverse itself if cyclical upturn begins, he had said. Growth in industrial production slipped to 8.7 per cent in April-January 2007-08, compared to 11.2 per cent in 2006- 07.

Industrial growth for January nosedived to 5.3 per cent compared to 11.6 per cent in the same month last year.

Output of consumer durables registered a negative growth of 3.1 per cent in January.