Survey to assess global economic crisis

The Economic Survey, to be tabled in Parliament on Thursday, is likely to provide an assessment of the impact of the global financial meltdown on the Indian economy and outline the strategy to spur growth and contain the mounting fiscal deficit.

India's economic growth slowed to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09 after registering over nine per cent during the preceding three years.

The global financial crisis, especially after the collapse of America's iconic investment banker Lehman Brothers in mid-September last year, badly hit economies around the world including India.

The country's export growth turned negative in October and industrial output too fell during the course of the financial year 2008-09.

In order to arrest the impact of the global crisis, the government announced three stimulus packages, which pushed up the fiscal deficit to over six per cent of GDP from 2.5 per cent estimated earlier.

The Economic Survey, which is tabled by the finance minister before the presentation of the Budget, provides the government's assessment of the economy, outlines the problems facing the country and suggests measures for dealing with them.