Matter of improving economy put in ‘cold storage’ by govt, says Priyanka Gandhi

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Thursday attacked the Modi government over the recent economic growth estimates, saying the Centre should have given maximum attention to improving economy but the matter has been put in "cold storage" by it.

Her attack comes after official data showed that India's GDP growth is seen dipping to an 11-year low of 5 per cent in the current fiscal, mainly due to poor showing by manufacturing and construction sectors.

"The BJP government should have paid maximum attention to the economy, but now the matter of improving the economy has been put in cold storage. Estimates of GDP growth show that the situation is not good," Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet.

The biggest impact of this is being borne by trade, the poor, daily wage labourers and employment, the Congress general secretary said.

No assuring action is being taken by the government, she said.

As per the first advance estimates of the national income released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the manufacturing sector output growth will decelerate to 2 per cent in 2019-20, down from 6.9 per cent in the previous financial year.

The construction sector growth is estimated at 3.2 per cent as against 8.7 per cent in 2018-19, according to government data.