The member of parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party Subramanian Swamy criticized the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman after she said that the situation of the economy is because of an act of god.
Subramanian Swamy, who is quite active on Twitter, took to the social media platform, and wrote,
“I am reliably informed that FM N. Sitharaman told a meeting that COVID-19 is an act of God! I will post the video soon. Was the decline in annual growth rate in GDP from 8 percent in financial year 15 to 3 percent in the 1st quarter of 2020 which was pre-COVID, also an act of God?”
I am reliably informed that FM N. Sitharaman told a meeting that COVID-19 is an act God!! I will post the video soon. Was the decline in annual growth rate in GDP from 8 % in FY 15 to (1st Qtr 2020) 3.1 % pre-C0VID, also an act of God ?
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) August 28, 2020
Finance Minister Says Act Of God
On Thursday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman called the COVID-19 pandemic as an ‘act of God’ and also said that there could be a possibility of the economy contracting in the future. The finance minister was speaking at the 41st meeting of the GST council through video conferencing. In the meeting, she said there are two options for compensating states on the GST to bridge the lack of revenue that will be available only for this year. She said,
“This year we are facing an extraordinary situation. We are facing an act of God where we may even see a contraction of the economy.”
One of the two options provided by the central government to bridge shortfall revenue is that of a special window to states in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India to provide Rs. 97,000 crore at a reasonable rate of interest. This will be repaid by the government over a period of 5 years. The second option is that the GST compensation gap of Rs. 2.35 lakh of this year can be met by states through consulting with the Reserve Bank of India.
