P Chidambaram calls GDP numbers still below pre-pandemic level

New Delhi, Aug 31 (UNI) Terming the Q1FY22 GDP numbers as ‘very revealing’, former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday said that the April-June GDP of Rs 32,38,828 was still below the pre-pandemic level of 2019-20.

“In Q1 of 2021-22, GDP was Rs 32,38,828 crore which is still below the Q1 level of 2019-20 which was Rs 35,66,788 crore,” he tweeted commenting on the GDP data released by NSO.

Chidambaram said that the quarterly output in several key sectors is still below the quarterly output in the same period in the pre-pandemic year, 2019-20.

“Among the sectors that have not attained the pre-pandemic level are Mining & Quarrying; Manufacturing; Construction; Trade, Hotels & Transport; and Financial & Professional Services,” he wrote further.

The senior Congress leader noted that in terms of economic activity, we are still behind in sectors such as Private Consumption, Gross Fixed Capital Formation and Imports.

Taking a jibe at the government, Chidambaram in his trademark style said, “Before we ‘celebrate’ the 20.1% GDP growth in Q1 (April-June) of 2021-22, please pause to consider the following.

In a series of tweets, he wrote that the ‘growth’ is on a low, actually negative, base of (-) 24.4% in Q1 of 2020-21.

“That means that in the first quarter of this year, we have not fully recovered from the decline of last year. We are still below the GDP level in the first quarter of the pre-pandemic year 2019-20. We have still some distance to go before the economy can be said to have achieved the pre-pandemic level,” he wrote in the series of tweets.