OTTAWA-The Canadian economy grew in the first quarter at its fastest pace in over a year on the strength of exports and consumer spending.
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The premier trade and industry body of the country, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has hailed India’s growth story and emergence as “the fastest growing major economy in the world”. The world’s second-largest economy grew 6.7% in the three months through March, its slowest quarterly expansion in seven years.
“In this quarter, our GDP has grown from 7.3 per cent of the last quarter to 7.9 per cent. The estimates for this quarter were 7.5 per cent but the GDP grew over the estimates because of the good financial management of this government”.
The prediction implies the economy will contract in the second three months of the year.
Fresh data revealed today show that India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 7.9 per cent in the quarter ending March 2016, up from the 7.2 per cent clocked during the quarter ending December 2015.
The macro data coincides with the BJP government’s celebration of completing two years which has seen a raft of reforms and initiatives like Make in India, Digital India, Smart Cities, Skill India and Startup India. The growth in the agriculture, forestry and fishing, construction, electricity, gas, water supply & other utility services, public administration, defence and other services was estimated to be 1.2 per cent, 3.9 per cent, 6.6 per cent and 6.6 percent respectively. Hopefully, Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill is passed (in ensuing monsoon session of Parliament), which has the potential to add to GDP growth.
“Chinese slowdown did impact the average Asian growth, which is now anticipated to be about 5.7 per cent. The Chienese developments do certainly (have) impact on Asia”, he said.
Statistics Canada said Tuesday that real GDP grew at an annual pace of 2.4 per cent in the first quarter.
In an assessment earlier this year, both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank had said India’s growth in 2015-16 will outpace that of China, and expand even faster during the current fiscal. But despite that growth, which was buoyed by a strong January, the economy contracted by 0.2% in March, following a 0.1% decline in February.
Meantime, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is widely expected to keep its policy interest rate on hold at a scheduled policy review on June 7 as it waits for banks to fully pass on the previous the benefits of earlier cuts to borrowers. With a downward revision in numbers for previous quarters, full-year growth came in at 7.6%, in line with expectations.
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Anis Chakravarty, lead economist and partner at Deloitte, added: “This latest set of data point to an economy that is still on the path to recovery but is showing signs of growth in certain sectors”.
