Speeding up of vaccination will push economy: Finance Ministry

New Delhi: The Finance Ministry has named vaccination as the key factor in recovering India's economy in its monthly report. "Rapidly improving vaccination delivery and frontloading the fiscal measures planned in the Union Budget is crucial to stimulating the investment cycle in the upcoming quarters," said the report.

The Finance Ministry stated that economic activities are linked to the path of the pandemic. And quickening the pace and coverage of vaccination against Covid-19 is critical for regaining the growth momentum.

The Ministry firmly said that strict observance of Covid-appropriate behaviour is essential to maintain the balance of lives and livelihood. The report pointed out that the balance is delicate at the moment.

The report named vigilant pandemic preparedness, upscaling the budget for health infrastructure, and increasing the pace of rolling out vaccines to be key in the process of beating the pandemic. Investing in research and development to prepare for any possible mutants of Covid-19 was also given importance.

The monthly report noted that several indicators of finance sectors like power consumption, e-way bills, and foreign portfolio investment have seen a slight increase in the second half of May. All factors had experienced a decline in April and the first half of May due to the second wave of the pandemic.

It added that the country had seen a V-shaped economic recovery in the second half of 2020-21, and India is among the few economies that witnessed a positive year-on-year (YoY) growth in the last two consecutive quarters.

The report said that the impact of the second wave of Covid-19 is expected to be softer in the current quarter, and the state-level lockdown restrictions are being more adaptive to the lessons from the first wave.