Mid-year economic review tabled in Parliament

The Government has tabled the Mid-year economic review in Parliament. The Government is expecting the economy to grow between 5.7-5.9% in the current fiscal, which is much lower than 7.6% projected in the Mid-Review Economic Survey. The Finance Ministry also estimates inflation to moderate to 6.8-7% by March 2013. It also says that trade deficit would not be significantly higher than last year. "Given , an emerging scenario, it should be possible for the economy to improve the overall GDP growth rate to around 5.7-5.9% for the year 2012-13," said the Mid-Year Economic Review tabled in Parliament. The economy, would have to record a growth rate of 6% in the second half of the current financial year to reach the desired growth rate. To achieve 5.7-5.9 per cent growth, the review said: "Both fiscal and monetary policy, however, would need to be supportive to sustain investor confidence. The Government will also have to address the concerns relating to structural supply side bottlenecks.'' Agriculture is expected to improve because of better prospects with rabi crops benefiting from greater moisture content in the soil and dominance of irrigated wheat and rice crops.