Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today tried to deflect the criticism arising from the steep fall in growth numbers, saying decline in GDP growth in Q1 is temporary and that the economy will bounce back in the second quarter as the macro fundamentals are strong.
Since the macro fundamentals of the economy are very strong, growth will definitely recover going forward, Prasad who heads the IT and law and justice ministries, said here.
“The GDP grew 7.5 per cent in 2014-15, 8 per cent in 2015-16 and 7.1 per cent in 2016-17. Only in one quarter, that is the first quarter of the current fiscal, GDP growth was at 5.7 per cent. I believe it will bounce back in the second quarter,” Prasad said.
Attributing the lower growth rates to the shake-up of the economy arising from GST roll out, he said, “when we build a bridge, we need to divert traffic, which leads to long queues of vehicles. But that is temporary, as things get normalised once the bridge is opened.”
“Just like that, the GST is a new regime which led to a shake-up. But, since the fundamentals of our economy are strong, we will definitely recover,” he added.