Cong blames Centre's 'failed' policies for depreciation of rupee

The Congress today blamed the "failed" economic policies of the Narendra Modi government for the depreciation of Indian rupee to a record low of Rs 71 against the dollar, adding that the country's economy was sinking under the current dispensation.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the failed "Modinomics" has dealt a body blow to the economy.

"The truth is that the Modi government has systematically weakened our economy and deliberate accidents like the 'Disaster of Demonetisation', implementation of a 'flawed' Goods and Services Tax (GST), weakening the banking sector and 'tax terrorism' are squarely responsible for this," he said.

"The rupee is in ICU. the Modi government is in the last lap. All the tall promises made by Narendra Modi during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections have disappeared from the Bhartiya Janata Party's (BJP) narrative," Surjewala said.

"What the Congress could not achieve in 60 years, Modi and his flawed economic policies have achieved in just 60 months...Poor domestic policies are the only reason for the plunging value of the rupee," he said in a statement.

Taking a dig at Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who had extolled the Centre's demonetisation drive in a blog recently, the Congress spokesperson said, "Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is busy writing long-winding blogs to score political points and has completely ignored the seriousness of falling rupee.

Surjewala said the Centre's policies have widened the Current Account Deficit (CAD), thereby, negatively impacting the rupee value vis-a-vis the dollar.

The CAD could go up to 2.8 per cent of the GDP for the current fiscal, compared to 1.9 per cent in the last fiscal due to widening trade deficit, he said.

"The rupee has lost almost 10 per cent of its value in 2018 itself. It has become Asia's weakest currency under the Modi dispensation," Surjewala said.

The Congress leader also alleged that foreign investors were consistently losing confidence in government policies and the incoming "Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) since April, 2018 is on a downward spiral".

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) annual report, 2017, he said, testified that net exports have dipped since the Modi government took over.

Surjewala added that with imports expected to become costlier due to the exchange rate, one could expect a higher oil import bill in the future, thus translating into higher prices of petrol and diesel.