BJP fears growth benifit wipe out, demands mid-term economic revie

New Delhi, Jun 09 (UNI) Stating the raising of Repo and reverse Repo rates by 0.25 per cent by the RBI as a clear admission that the rising inflation is very real, the BJP today demanded the Government to come out with a special mid-term Economic Review on the national economy by the end of this month.

Inflation, rising interest rates, growing current account defecit, sluggish agricultural growth, endangered food security were all pointers to an emerging grim economic scenario. The Government is duty bound to confide in the nation through such mid term review, BJP Spokesman Prakash Javadekar told newspersons.

He said raising Repo and reverse Repo rates is bound to increase the interest rates of all types of credit be it industrial, commercial, agricultural, car or home loan. The NDA had brought down the housing loans to six per cent level and this rates are galloping to double digits under the UPA regime, he said.

The rising food items was another aspect and the pulses which are in the range of Rs 35 to Rs 45 and rice and jaggery touching Rs 22 has certainly hurt the common man. The decision to increase petrol and diesel and CNG prices will only aggravate the situation, he said.

The international trade scenario too was alarming. The NDA had left a healthy scenario where India was enjoying trade surplus but the situation had changed for worse and current account deficit gap was a huge four billion dollars a month. Exports were sluggish and stagnating but the imports were growing stronger resulting in depreciation of rupee value was at its lowest during the year, he said.

With the agriculture not growing as per the expectations, the food security scenario was grim and the government was importing large quantities of wheat at an exorbitant price while denying remunerative prices for the Indian farmer. Under these circumstances, the nation can't have sustained growth and whatever the growth will be nullified by the rising inflation, he said.

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