Jaitley admits slump in GDP a matter of concern, hopes for domestic public investment in near future

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday admitted that the slump in the first quarter GDP is a 'matter of concern'. Jaitley said that GDP as low as 5.7 per cent throws up challenge for the economy.  

"In coming quarters we really need to work on both terms of policy and investment to improve upon these figures (GDP)," the finance minister said. 

Throwing a positive spin on the economic futures, Jaitley said that rapid pace of improvements in global economy will help boost domestic public investment. 

"Global economy is improving faster than we thought, domestic public investment going to be high, revenue trends seem to be positive. Domestic public investment will be high since revenue trend is positive," he said.

Read | GDP growth slips to 5.7 per cent in April-June quarter from 6.1 per cent in January-March

The finance minister also expressed faith in positive impact of Monsoon on Indian economy. 

According to data released on Thursday, India’s GDP growth rate slipped to 5.7 per cent in April-June quarter in 2017. The GDP growth was 6.1 per cent in January-March quarter. 

The disruptions caused by demonetisation spilled over to the third straight quarter amid slowdown in manufacturing activities.

This compares with revised growth of 7.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2016-17.