The challenges ahead for the new government are formidable. India is suffering from degradation of its data-collection systems, which makes many macro-economic variables suspect. We don’t know what Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is, and of course, we can’t tell what the growth rate is, either. We have strong evidence of rising unemployment but we don’t have reliable government statistics. There is widespread evidence of farm distress as well.
The Fiscal Deficit (FD) has far exceeded the targeted 3.4 per cent in 2018-19 but we can’t tell what the FD is, in terms of GDP. Tax collections have been well below target.
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