New Delhi: S&P Global Ratings said on Thursday that the lockdown imposed for the prevention of the Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected economic activity, causing the Indian economy to decline by five percent in the current financial year. “We have reduced our growth forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2021 to a negative five percent,” S&P said in a statement. At this time we believe that the (epidemic) outbreak will peak in the third quarter. ‘
Earlier this week, rating agencies Fitch and Crisil also predicted a five percent contraction in the Indian economy. S&P said in a statement, “The Covid-19 outbreak in India and the two-month lockdown (in some areas even longer) have caused a sudden halt in the economy. This means that growth will narrow sharply this financial year. Economic activities will face disruption for the next one year. ‘
Covid-19 has not yet been controlled in India. New cases In the last one week, new cases have been more than 6,000 per day. The government has reduced lockdown restrictions, leading to increased infection cases. The government has divided the country into red, orange and green areas based on cases of infection. Most of the cities of industrial importance are in the red zone.
