Economy will revive in 6-7 months: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the economy would revive in the next six to seven months.

Speaking at the party’s manifesto release programme, he also expressed concern over rising food prices but hit out at political opponents, saying “they (the BJP and the Third Front) neither have the capacity nor the will” to sustain economic growth.

Singh said that as the government had “increased the income in rural areas”, some goods like cycles and cement were witnessing high demand. “Because the farmers were looked after so well, we got a bumper harvest of crops. We deliberately tried to increase the income in rural areas,” he added.

The PM also pointed out that even as the “world is in trouble”, India was still the second fastest growing economy after China.

“We need a government which knows how to maintain economic growth. The country has never seen such robust economic growth. Even at this time of trouble, the average GDP growth during the five-year period is 8.6 per cent, while in the BJP’s tenure it was just 5.8 per cent,” the PM said.