India Unveils Economic Stimulus Package
March 26 2020 - 3:59AM
RTTF2
India's government unveiled an economic stimulus package worth
INR 1.7 trillion as the nation faces complete lockdown to contain
the spread of coronavirus, or covid-19.
Measures were aimed to help low income households, daily wage
earners and small businesses, who are more vulnerable to the 21-day
lockdown.
"We don't want anyone to remain hungry, or without money. So we
will be giving enough to take care of their food grains
requirement, protein requirement, in terms of pulses," Finance
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a press conference on
Thursday.
The package includes food security, cash transfer, free cooking
gas, contribution to employees' provident fund and relief to
construction workers. The minister announced an insurance cover of
INR 5 million to front line medical professionals and workers.
The government plans to provide free cooking gas to 83 million
families over the next three months and also cash transfer to 200
million women and the elderly.
Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi announced a complete lockdown
across the country for 21 days from Tuesday midnight, asserting
that it was "very necessary to break the chain of coronavirus."
Earlier, Prakash Sakpal, an ING economist said the three-week
nationwide lockdown will significantly dent India's GDP growth,
making this an even worse year for the economy than the 2008 Global
financial crisis.
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