After months of spin on the economic situation, the Finance Ministry has been confronted with its own widely credible intra-Ministry statistics [in Macroeconomic Report; June 30, 2020] that contradicts the spin.
I forwarded these statistics which confirm my analysis [published in my earlier articles in The Sunday Guardian], in a letter to the Prime Minister stating that what I had informed him in my earlier letters has been vindicated in the Macroeconomic Report.
My letter was forwarded by the PM to the Ministry of Finance for a reply and Minister of State Anurag Thakur replied politely that “Your concern and suggestions in this regard are duly noted.”
Since then the Finance Ministry has put up a brave face and admitted what the Indian people had experienced all along during the said pandemic [See the above cited Ministry publication].
So let us now talk on the moment of truth about the current economic situation.
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
The first confession of the true state of affairs was made by the Minister herself when she told the Economic Times in an interview [published on 30 September 2020] that “it will be too early for me, based on this [what she saw as an ‘uptick’] to conclude as to how the year will end. We’ll have to wait and watch.” Thus this is a confession of the MoF being reduced to spectators while the economy tanks [pun unintended].
The second confession of truth came from the PM’s Council of Economic Affairs and the PM-chaired Niti Aayog. Media report e.g., Indian Express [2 October 2020] quotes these government think tank “high brows” as being despondent of the Finance Minister’s tight fisted attitude to monetary stimulus for the poor, the unemployed and the middle class who face salary cuts due to the coronavirus pandemic.