Economic Survey bats for big expansion of govt spending
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Synopsis
The economy had been slowing even before the pandemic: growth was 6.5% in 2018-19 and 4% in 2019-20. The pandemic shrank the economy by 7.7% in 2020-21.
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The Survey argues for a big step-up in public expenditure on healthcare, to, say, 2.5% of GDP, a national regulator for healthcare providers, technological utilities to reduce information asymmetry inherent in the system and expansion of telemedicine.
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The Economic Survey, presented three days ahead of the Budget, strongly argues for a big expansion of government spending, financed by borrowing, ignoring any whiny protests by global rating agencies and worrywarts fretting over crowding out private investment.
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