Chennai: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has hit out at the Union government over the Reserve Bank of India’s latest warning on economic contraction amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, saying “distractions through media won’t help the poor”.
The former Congress president said the apex bank has now confirmed what he has been talking about for months and suggested a few ways to restart the economy.
“RBI has now confirmed what I have been warning for months. Govt needs to: Spend more, not lend more. Give money to the poor, not tax cuts to industrialists. Restart economy by consumption. Distractions through media won’t help the poor or make the economic disaster disappear,” he tweeted.
In its annual report released on Tuesday, RBI said that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic could cause a structural downshift on India’s potential output, with the gross domestic product (GDP) likely to contract in the second quarter as well.