Coronavirus Outbreak: Govt's fiscal stimulus package 'hopelessly inadequate', says P Chidambaram

The Congress on Monday said the fiscal stimulus package announced by the government is "hopelessly inadequate" given the gravity of the economic crisis as it amounts to only Rs 1.86 crore, which is 0.91 percent of the GDP

|May 18, 2020, 13:49:00 IST

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday said the fiscal stimulus package announced by the government is "hopelessly inadequate" given the gravity of the economic crisis as it amounts to only Rs 1.86 crore, which is 0.91 percent of the GDP.

The party sought a revised and comprehensive package of 10 percent of the GDP.

Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram said the stimulus package has left several sections like the poor, migrants, farmers, labourers, workers, small shopkeepers and middle class high and dry.

File image of P Chidambaram. PTI

"We express our thorough disappointment and request the government to reconsider the stimulus package and announce a revised and comprehensive fiscal stimulus package of not less than Rs 10 lakh crore of real additional expenditure equivalent to 10 percent of GDP," he said at a press conference through video-conferencing.

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