With several countries, including India, undergoing a severe lockdown to control the coronavirus pandemic, governments and central banks worldwide have had to take drastic measures to counter the economic side effects of such decisions.
The RBI today announced a series of steps, including a cut in rates as well as the reserve ratio, that puts its total monetary stimulus into the economy at around Rs 2.7 lakh crore (this figure includes other steps it has announced recently).
Combine this with the government's Rs 1.7 lakh crore fiscal package, it brings up the size of the total revival package at Rs 5.4 lakh crore. Or, considering India's Rs 170 lakh crore GDP, 3.2 percent of its output.
While RBI's measures were aimed at bringing down interest rates and making credit more easily available, FM Nirmala Sitharaman's economic relief was squarely aimed at millions of low-income households and the poor, by way of providing direct cash transfers and food security measures.
However, here's how India's stimulus package compares to other countries.
: India's economic measures have come a day after the US Senate passed a massive $2 trillion bill aimed at helping unemployed workers and industries hurt by the coronavirus epidemic. With the US economy pegged at $20 trillion, this stimulus translates into a size of about 10 percent of GDP.
It must, however, be noted that India is not yet as much affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
For instance, the US yesterday became the country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases, at more than 80,000.
India has so far recorded over 700 cases.
First Published: IST