A major constraint for policy makers devising strategies to protect Indian citizens and businesses from the vicissitudes of the pandemic has been the paucity of quality, high-frequency data. It is unusually difficult to construct policies when there is no clear sense of how this unprecedented crisis has affected household and business activity, from employment availability to migration to consumption choices. In this context, our lead editorial notes that the government should collect and release timely economic data. Read here
Data limitations should not be an escape clause for not honouring obligations under the inflation targeting regime, writes A K