‘Oil slump to help offset corona’ impact on economy’
The negative impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy will be balanced to “a very large extent” by the decline in global oil prices, a senior government official said on Tuesday. The official further said he expects the economy to go on an upward trajectory in 2020-21, adding that a degree of fiscal stimulus may also be warranted to boost growth.
“We had expected that the economy had bottomed out in the third quarter of fiscal 2019-20 and the last quarter of current fiscal will see an improvement, followed by further improvement in the fiscal 2020-21.
“However, there is no denying the fact that the Covid-19’s impact on the global economy will be significant. This is bound to affect Indian economic prospect as well,” he told PTI. On the other hand, a very bright silver lining has been provided by the collapse of oil prices, he added.
