The Congress on Friday said the forthcoming budget must address fundamental questions such as why private investment is "very sluggish" and private consumption is not picking up as the party dismissed claims that economic growth is accelerating sharply and large numbers of jobs being created.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Budget for 2024-25 in the Lok Sabha on July 23.

Congress general secretary, in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh said, "The non-biological PM's cheerleaders and drumbeaters claim that economic growth is accelerating sharply and that jobs are being created in large numbers." "But if this was the case -- and it is not-- Why is private investment, a key engine of economic growth, still so very sluggish recording a 20-year low during April-June 2024?" Why is private consumption, another key engine of economic growth, not picking up except at the high end, Ramesh asked.

"Why have household savings plummeted to record lows and household debt shot up to record highs? Why have rural wages continued to fall and why is the wage share of national income declining?" he said, adding, why is manufacturing as a share of GDP at a record low and still decreasing? "Why has the informal sector lost 17 lakh jobs in the last seven years? Why did unemployment reach a 45-year peak, with unemployment for young graduates at 42%?" the Congress general secretary said.

"These are fundamental questions that the forthcoming Budget will have to address while the finance minister sings praises of the non-biological PM," Ramesh said.

On Thursday, the BJP claimed that around 12.5 crore jobs were created in the last 10 years of the Modi government and cited the latest Reserve Bank of India report to assert the creation of "five crore jobs in 2023-24 alone".

Several experts have urged the government to provide tax relief to the common man to boost consumption and take steps to check inflation and accelerate economic growth.

The economy has recorded a growth rate of 8.2 per cent in 2023-24. Earlier in February, Sitharaman presented an interim budget for 2024-25 in view of the Lok Sabha elections.

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