Shimla: Following the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state economy is estimated to contract by minus 6.2 percent.
The state CM, while presenting the budget in the house, stated that it’s 1.5 percentage points less than the estimated contraction of GDP at the national level during 2020-21.
As per the Advance Estimates, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is expected to be Rs.1,56,522 crore during 2020-21. The per capita income of the State is estimated to be Rs.1,83,286 which is more than the estimated national per capita income for 2020-21 by Rs. 56,318, the CM stated in his Budget address.
Commenting on the situation arises from the global COVID-19 pandemic, Jai Ram Thakur termed the COVID challenge unprecedented. He said
“No one was left untouched by its ill effects. There was a strange dilemma. One option was to shut down everything and stop all businesses to avoid this epidemic, but the resulting situation was bound to affect many lives. We knew that if the spread of epidemic was not halted, lives will be lost; but it was also true that if all activities were stopped, livelihoods would be threatened. We had to save lives as well as livelihoods. It was an unusual situation.”
The Chief Minister, in his Budget address, also paid his gratitude to the health care and front-line workers.
