The growth challenge

Higher growth next year would require policy work

The national income data, released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Tuesday, was awaited for a variety of reasons. It had the gross domestic product (GDP) estimates for the third quarter (October-December 2022) of this fiscal year. The headline year-on-year (YoY) growth numbers for the first two quarters of this fiscal year were influenced by a weak base as economic recovery in the first half of 2021-22 was constrained by the second wave of the pandemic. Thus, the third-quarter number was expected to indicate the real strength of the economy. Most analysts expected the headline growth number to be