The Economic Survey for 2013-14, presented to Parliament today, recommended to the government to move towards a low and stable inflation regime by way of fiscal consolidation. It called for revamping social sector schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, National Rural Health Mission and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.

It emphasized the need for reforms in the food market. The Economic Survey forecast the Gross Domestic Product GDP) growth rate in the range of 5.4 to 5.9 per cent in the 2014-15. It observed the GDP growth rate slowed down to below 5 per cent for two consecutive years from 2012 to 2014 due to poor monsoon, uncertainty in the global economy and poor investment climate.

The document said in 2013-14, the industry grew at 0.4 per cent due to poor performance in mining activities and deceleration in the manufacturing output. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the document in the Lok Sabha while the Minister of State for Finance, Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman tabled it in the Rajya Sabha. Consumer price inflation declined to 9.49 per cent in 2013-14 from 10.21 per cent during the previous year. However, the food inflation remained high during 2013-14 due to high inflation in the commodity sub-groups, fruits and vegetables, egg, meat and fish.