Kerala financial development plummets to three.46% in 2019-20 from 6.49% in 2018-19

By Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala’s economic system’s development has taken a pointy decline to three.46 per cent in 2019-20 from 6.49 per cent in 2018-19 as final three years’ pure calamities affected the productive sectors of the state’s economic system, in keeping with the Economic Review 2020, tabled within the Assembly on Thursday.

Compounding to the woes is the estimate by the State Planning Board that Kerala’s economic system by way of Gross State Value Added (GSVA) to shrink by 26 per cent within the first quarter of 2020-21 as a result of disaster attributable to the Covid19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown.

The evaluate mentioned the Cyclone Ockhi in 2017, and extreme floods ensuing from excessive rainfall occasions in 2018 and 2019 have began to hit the state’s economic system. “The natural disasters ravaged the State economy affecting the lives and livelihoods of many and adversely affecting productive sectors of the economy,” the Review, which comes a day earlier than the Kerala finances on Friday, mentioned.

While the nationwide development charges plummeted to 4.2 per cent in 2019-20 from 6.1 per cent in 2018-19, Kerala’s GSDP development exceeded nationwide charges in 2018-19 and grew at 6.49 per cent decline in 2019-20, it identified.

According to the short estimates, Kerala’s GSDP at fixed (2011-12) costs is Rs 5.68 lakh crore in 2019-20 as in opposition to the provisional estimate of Rs 5.49 lakh crore in 2018-19, exhibiting a decrease development of three.46 per cent. However, at present costs, the state’s economic system is estimated to develop at 8.15 per cent within the monetary 12 months ended March 31, 2020. “At current prices, the GSDP is estimated at Rs 8.54 lakh crore (quick estimate) in 2019-20 as against the provisional estimate of Rs 7.90 lakh crore in 2018-19, showing a growth rate of 8.15 per cent,” the evaluate mentioned.

In phrases of GSVA, the short estimate at fixed (2011-12) costs is Rs 5.01 lakh crore in 2019-20 as in opposition to the provisional estimate of  Rs 4.89 lakh crore in 2018-19. The development charge of GSVA is simply 2.58 per cent in 2019-20 in comparison with 6.2 per cent in 2018-19. “However, it may be noted that the average rate of growth for the years 2016-17 to 2019-20 (5.4 per cent) was higher than the average rate of growth for the previous four years, 2012-13 to 2015-16 (4.8 per cent),” the evaluate mentioned.

Adding to the financial woes of low development charges are the rising costs. “Inflation remained benign during the first half of 2019-20 but exceeded the upper tolerance band around the target during December 2019-February 2020 on the back of rising food price pressures. Inflation, as measured by Consumer Price Index numbers, hovered around 6 per cent to 7 per cent in 2020,” it mentioned.