In its debut meeting, the newly constituted Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) today chalked out the major priorities for accelerating economic growth and employment while accepting that the country is witnessing a slowdown.
"There is a consensus among us about the various reasons that have contributed to the slowdown in the growth rate," Chairman of PMEAC Bibek Debroy said.
The Council's primary and the only role is to advise the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the macroeconomy, Debroy added.
The council was set up last month and comprises Bibek Debroy, Member NITI Aayog as the Chairman, Ratan P. Watal, Principal Adviser, NITI Aayog as Member Secretary and Surjit Bhalla, Rathin Roy and Ashima Goyal as part-time members.
The PMEAC also took stock of the current, economic, fiscal and monetary policy environment and identified key issues that it will focus on.
The council has identified ten themes around which a report will be structured in the next few months.
These themes are economic growth, employment and job creation, informal sector and integration, fiscal framework, monetary policy, public expenditure, institutions of economic governance, agriculture and animal husbandry, patterns of consumption and production and social sector.
The PMEAC has been set up three years after the NDA government assumed power. The formation of a team of senior economists and former bureaucrats come at a time when the economy is growing at its slowest pace of 5.7 percent. In addition, private investment has been tepid and manufacturing sector is witnessing a slowdown.
In the next few months, the focus of the Council will be, however, towards the budget that is likely to be presented in the next 3-4 months.
"We will come up with a doable solution, keeping in mind next year's budget," Watal said.
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