New Delhi: Hit by poor performance of farm, mining and manufacturing sector, economic growth in the October-December period of the current financial year slipped to 4.5 per cent -- decade's lowest quarterly growth. Concerned over the low growth, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said efforts are being made to achieve higher growth and hoped that GDP will grow by over 6 per cent in the next financial year.
The GDP had grown by 6 per cent in the October-December period of last fiscal. The economic growth in the first nine months of this fiscal (April-December) stood at 5.1 per cent, lower than 6.6 per cent in the year-ago period.
The economy had grown by 5.5 per cent and 5.3 per cent in the first quarter and the second quarter, respectively, of 2012-13. "The first half is 5.4. The second half must be below 5 if the prediction is 5 per cent for the annual growth," Chidambaram said.
"The growth rate for the next year, I am as confident as my Chief Economic Advisor advises me to be confident. I am as confident as the advice given by the Prime Minister Economic Advisory Council," he said. The Economic Survey of 2012-13 tabled in Parliament on Wednesday has predicted a growth rate of 6.1-6.7 per cent for the next fiscal.
During October-December quarter of 2012-13, manufacturing sector grew marginally by 2.5 per cent, against 0.7 per cent growth in the same period of 2011-12, according to data released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) today. Farm sector output expanded by just 1.1 per cent in the October-December period this fiscal, against 4.1 per cent in the same quarter last fiscal.
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