July 4 (AZINS) Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has said the Narendra Modi government is predicting GDP growth to clock in at 7 percent in the current financial year, even as it indicated that it is pessimistic about the state of the economy.

In a short statement released as part of his response to the Economic Survey 2019, which was tabled in Parliament on Thursday, Chidambaram faulted the government for not providing detailed outlooks on its growth prediction.

"I looked for the Outlook for 2019-20. It is in Volume-2, Chapter 01, but there is only a bland statement that "growth of the economy expected to be 7 per cent in 2019-20." There are no growth projections sector wise," read Chidambaram's statement.

"The closest in terms of describing the outlook for 2019-20 can be found in Volume-2, Chapter 02. The Economic Survey flags (1) slowing growth, (2) shortfall in revenue, (3) finding resources without compromising the fiscal deficit target, (4) impact of oil prices on the current account and (5) recommendations of the Fifteenth FC on central government finances. I am afraid, none of these is positive or encouraging," Chidambaram's statement continued.

"It appears to me that the government, speaking through the Economic Survey, is pessimistic about the economy," he concluded.

While he did not use his statement to level direct criticism of the Narendra Modi government, his statement seemed to underline the seeming disparity between the projection of 7 percent growth, even as the document went on to list a number of challenges that the economy faces.

Chidambaram's low-key criticism comes a day before Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to deliver her first Budget, and the first one of the Narendra Modi 2.0 government, in the Lok Sabha.

The Economic Survey is an annual document that the government tables a day before the Finance Minister delivers the Union Budget speech in the Lok Sabha. It is a mine of data on not just how the economy performed in the last financial year, but also a roadmap on how the government foresees its performance in the coming financial year.