Pakistan leading economists have expressed their doubts over the provisional estimate of 3.94 per cent GDP growth rate in the country and said it negates Imra
‘Lockdowns to impact economy’
Japanese brokerage Nomura on Tuesday cut its GDP growth estimate for the current 2021-22 fiscal to 10.8% from the earlier 12.6%, blaming the impact of the second wave-induced lockdowns. It said the activity levels have dropped further to 64.5% of the pre-pandemic levels in the week to May 9 as per a proprietary index, after a further 5 percentage points drop in the week.
The activity levels, at present, are at par with those seen in June last year. The country has reported over 4 lakh new infections and 4,000 deaths a day during the ongoing second wave of the COVID-19 infections, leading over 20 States to impose lockdowns or lockdown-like restrictions as a desperate measure to restrict the virus spread.
economic growth is the single biggest factor in compiling these numbers. so they ve had a very low growth estimate in response to trump policies on taxes and deregulation. we have had a much higher one. about a 1 percentage point differential. we re at three, they re at two. the differential over ten years is significant. could be $3 trillion in deficit reduction if we re right. all i m saying is that in the first two years of the trump administration our view has essentially been correct and their pessimistic view has not been contract. i m not here to rail on against the cbo. they have a point of view. we do too. they re professionals. i respect that. that s the biggest difference. i would say one other matter. we anticipate a very strong tough budget coming out to hold
goes up even more and now mcconnell calls for cuts to medicare and social security. let s talk about this. outfront now, steven moore, former senior economic adviser to the trump campaign and an informal adviser to the white house and a columnist for the washington post. steven, i ll start with you. the tax cuts did not pay for themselves as republicans pledged that they would. they are contributing to the deficit going up, correct? well, jake, i think you re kind of burying the lede here. i mean, the big story in this congressional budget office report is that just in the last nine months, since the tax cut was passed, the cbo has increased its growth estimate for the next ten years by $6 trillion. let me say that again. $6 trillion additional growth because we ve had such strong growth this year. that if the federal government takes 18% of that, that s $1 trillion so we ve already effectively paid for two-thirds of the tax cut. but look, the other point is, barack obama crede