Mumbai: Amid growing cases of coronavirus, several states have begun to curb movement and trade. The local lockdown in important centers of the country will cause an average loss of $ 1.25 billion to the economy every week. Also, it may affect the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of the current financial year by 1.40 percent.
A UK brokerage company Barclays report said that if the current curbs remain until the end of May, it could result in a combined loss of $ 10.5 billion of economic and commercial activity and a GDP loss of 0.34 per cent at the current price.
India is now the world leader in new cases of infection. Now India has overtaken the US and Brazil, the second and third most affected countries. The country received 1.62 lakh cases of infection on Tuesday and 879 people died. According to the data released in the morning by the Union Health Ministry, cases of infection have reached 1.37 crore in the country so far.
1,71,058 people have died due to this epidemic in the country. Cases of infection are increasing daily in various states. Maharashtra alone accounts for 48 per cent of the total cases. There are some restrictions on movement in Delhi as well. Two weeks of complete lockdown are underway in Maharashtra.
Barclays said that during the last few days there has been a curb and night curfew on lockdown and movement in important economic centers of the country. This will cause a loss of $ 1.25 billion to the economy in a week. A week ago, the economy was losing $ 52 million on a weekly basis. Barclays said that on a quarterly basis, the loss would be much larger. This will lead to a fall in GDP by 1.40 percent.
Barclays India Chief Economist Rahul Bajoria said that if the curbs imposed by Covid-19 persist until the end of May, we estimate the economy to lose $ 10.5 billion in total, or 0.34 percentage points in GDP at market price.
This report has been written by Bajoria and Shreya Sodhani. Bajoria said the economy would suffer far more in the first quarter. This would result in a loss of 1.40 percent of GDP at the current price. The report says that if the current marks remain for two months, then at current prices GDP will fall by 0.34 per cent and real GDP by 0.20 per cent.
