In an analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, Indian economy may take more than a deaced to overcome the losses emanating from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report published by the Reserve Bank of India. The report has estimated the output losses during the pandemic period at around Rs 52 lakh crore.
The perturbations from repeated waves of COVID-19 have come in the way of sustained recovery and the quarterly trends in GDP essentially followed the ebbs and flows of the pandemic, said the chapter ‘Scars of the Pandemic’ in the Report on Currency and Finance (RCF) for the year 2021-22.
The report says, the pre-covid trend growth rate works out to 6.6% (CAGR for 2012-13 to 2019-20) and excluding the slowdown years, it stands at 7.1% (CAGR for 2012-13 to 2016-17). “Taking the actual growth rate of (-) 6.6% for 2020-21, 8.9% for 2021-22 and assuming growth rate of 7.2% for 2022-23, and 7.5% beyond that, India is expected to overcome Covid-19 losses in 2034-35,”
The report further said that, it pegged the output losses for individual years at Rs 19.1 lakh crore, Rs 17.1 lakh crore and Rs16.4 lakh crore for FY21, FY22 and FY23, respectively. The report has been authored by officials in the RBI’s Department of Economic and Policy Research. The central bank, however, said that the findings and conclusions expressed in the report are entirely those of the contributors and do not represent the views of the banking regulator.
With the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, the downward risks to global and domestic growth are getting accentuated through surge in commodity prices and global supply chain disruptions, it noted.
“The pandemic is a watershed moment and the ongoing structural changes catalysed by the pandemic can potentially alter the growth trajectory in the medium-term,” the report says.
The RBI further said that, the findings and conclusions expressed in the report are entirely those of the contributors and do not represent the views of the central bank.
