Past policies constrain economic recovery

Sorting out the flaws in GST, exchange rate depreciation and avoiding fiscal slippages should be the top priorities for the government

Ever since the publication of the 2017-18 Q1 national income estimates by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on August 31, the media has been buzzing with commentary and debate on the decline of growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices to below 6 per cent. Both inter and intra political party debates have heated up on the causes of the slowdown and the need for correctives. The government too seems to have at last woken to the gravity of the situation. It is mystifying as to why this all-round concern and debate was not sparked four months earlier,