Optimistic scenario: Can growth take care of all the economy's problems?

If the government thinks growth is the solution, can it be delivered in a slowing world with rising rates - within the domestic context of slower growth even before the pandemic, asks T N Ninan

The government’s macro-economic strategy, as articulated through the Budget and the Economic Survey, can be stated simply: Growth will take care of all problems. That is what worked two decades ago, when the macro-economic indicators were comparable to today’s fiscal deficits, heavy interest burden on public debt, and problem-ridden banks. Rapid growth in subsequent years, in a world economy that was on steroids, boosted tax revenues, which reduced the deficit and debt in relation to GDP, and helped digest the interest burden.

One advantage today, compared to the turn of the century, is that the banks have already been mostly fixed