Tajmahal

India: Solid GDP growth, weak public finances

India's fractious politics keeps government debt high. Source: Google Images

In an earlier post, I discussed  a theory I developed that democratic countries with divided, often coalition, governments generally produce weaker public finances than countries where two dominant parties alternate in power.  India is the posterchild for the former, with government debt at about 80% of GDP, very high for an emerging market economy.  In order to keep weak coalitions together, governments must buy off constituencies, at the expense of sound public finances.  We shall see if India’s current government led by the Congress Party can deliver on promises to reduce the government debt burden.

India’s weak fiscal position (with government deficits at around 6% of GDP)  have constrained its credit ratings to low investment grade.  Below find a press release issued today by Fitch in which the rating agency adjusts the rating outlook on India’s sovereign bonds to stable from negative, not due to improved management of government finances, but to stronger GDP growth prospects.  The one-off positive impact on government accounts of recent telecoms auctions also helped sovereign creditworthiness.

CSFB published a note today (also below) explaining how output growth is starting to bump up against capacity constraints.  Fitch forecasts output growth at a healthy 8.5%, though the Reserve Bank of India might tighten monetary policy, keeping the expansion in check.  This is because of another important characteristic of Indian political economy – political sensitivity to inflation.  India is a populous country with high levels of poverty, so when inflation creeps up even a point or two, especially for food prices, people starve (or at least become more malnourished).  In a place as big as India, this can mean millions more malnourished people.  Complicated policy making…

Source:http://risingpowers.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2010/06/14/india-solid-gdp-growth-weak-public-finances/