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BJP-led economic slide will lead to adverse BoP: Manmohan

The ''economic slide'' during the four months of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has lowered India's credit-rating and will ''threaten'' the Balance of Payments situation, former finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh cautioned in New Delhi on Monday.

Addressing a seminar organised by the All India Mahila Congress on various aspects of the BJP ''misrule'', Dr Singh said the spiralling prices, which had put a burden on the common person, was a direct result of the government's ''muddled'' Budget.

''The government had promised seven to eight per cent growth rate in the GDP. Now it will be a miracle if the GDP growth this year touches five per cent,'' the Congress leader in the Rajya Sabha said.

The traders had taken immediate benefit from several government proposals like additional excise duty on packaged consumables, increase in petrol cess and hike in customs duties, leading to a consumer price index of more than 10.5 per cent now, Dr Singh said.

The drop in export growth from 20 per cent during the Congress rule to a mere 2.6 per cent and the lowered value of the rupee augured badly for the country's economy, particularly the Balance of Payments, he said.

The increased fiscal deficit and lowered industrial production were also bad signs, he added.

Foreign confidence in investment prospects in India has diminished as has the domestic business confidence, as shown by the sluggish stock market performance, the former finance minister said.

Checking the fiscal deficit, greater expenditure on infrastructure, financial and banking sector reforms and a focus on agriculture, particularly irrigation, were needed to put the economy back on the rails, Dr Singh said.

UNI