Highlights
- India’s GDP records 23.9 per cent fall in three months
- Australia’s GDP record 7 per cent fall in a quarter
- India’s agriculture sector grew by 3.4 per cent in the last quarter
India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by 23.9 per cent between April and June, official figures revealed.
India’s Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Monday revealed the construction sector took the steepest hit, followed by trade, hotel and transport sector.
The agriculture sector was the only sector that reported positive growth in the first quarter of India’s financial year.
India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by 23.9 per cent between April and June. Source: Indian Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
Sectorial break-up
- Construction contracted 50.3%.
- Trade, hotel, transport, communication contracted 47%.
- Manufacturing contracted 39.3%.
- Mining sector contracted 23.8%.
- Financial services sector contracted by 5.3%.
- Public administration, defense and other services contracted by 10.3%.
- The agriculture sector grew at 3.4%.
In May, the Indian Prime Minister announced a stimulus package worth $400 billion (AUD) calling it 'Atma-Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” or 'Mission self-reliant India'.
The Indian PM said the package was aimed towards becoming economically self-reliant and depend less on imports. He stressed on the importance of buying local and said it was time to be ‘vocal about local’.
But experts suggest the Indian government’s response has not been sufficient to address the economic crisis.
“Government’s response to the pandemic has been very disappointing and disheartening,” Gaurav Datt, an Economist and the Director of Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability told SBS Hindi.
“Until the government works out a mechanism to put more money into people’s pocket, it will be difficult to increase the demands in the sectors which have seen such a steep fall,” Mr Datt said.
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Australia records a 7 per cent fall in GDP
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), released on Wednesday, show Australian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell seven per cent in the June quarter, which is the largest quarterly fall on record.
Head of National Accounts at the ABS, Michael Smedes said: “The global pandemic and associated containment policies led to a 7.0 per cent fall in GDP for the June quarter. This is, by a wide margin, the largest fall in quarterly GDP since records began in 1959.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Wednesday's GDP figures confirm the "devastating impact" of COVID-19 on the economy, but Australia's "strong economic position" before the crisis means things aren't as bad as they could have been.
Australian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell seven per cent in the June quarter Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
"Today's national accounts confirm the devastating impact on the Australian economy from COVID-19. Our record run of 28 consecutive years of economic growth has now officially come to an end," the treasurer said.
"We didn't go down the path of countries like Sweden which put few restrictions in place. At the same time, we didn't go down the path of countries like France which accepted and adopted extreme lockdowns, totally shutting down large parts of their economy.
"Instead we chose our own path and put in place $314 billion of support for Australians to build a bridge to the other side of this crisis.
"Our strong economic position going into this crisis has given us the financial firepower to respond."
