Does India Need to Revisit its Macroeconomic Framework?

In his new IDFC Institute (@IDFCinstitute) Working Paper, Dr Niranjan Rajadhyaksha (@CafeEconomics)  asks if India simultaneously met the targets in a hypothesized '2-4-6-8'  macroeconomic framework that, without explicit enunciation, one can assume it has followed over the past decade or so: with a 2% target for the Current Account Deficit, an Inflation Target of 4%, a 6% target for its Consolidated Fiscal Deficit (i.e. fiscal deficits of states and the Centre combined, as a percent of national GDP) and an 8% (aspirational) target for RGDP growth. The short answer is No, but even the more nuanced answer cannot see the glass as half-full. the Table below shows the results over the last decade. The caveat being that, except for the inflation target and the target for the consolidated fiscal deficit (which have each been set out explicitly), the other two targets have not been explicitly stated, and the RGDP 'target' is more aspirational than normative in nature.

The data for the past decade with respect to these big macroeconomic variables is set out in the Table below.But, left-to-right, the targets for the variables in the columns are actually in the order 8-4-6-2]  

Dr Rajadhyaksha's IDFC Institute Working Paper on India's Macroeconomic Framework

The best years for Growth & Inflation: 2015-16 and 2016-17 (8% 4.9%; and 7.9% 4.5%) but these are also years with fiscal deficits higher than target & with the Current Account Deficit below target. The Working Paper nicely explains a #Trilemma that Indian macroeconomic policy faces (as do the macroeconomic policies of all countries similarly situated), suggests the right choice of path among the three, and further strongly recommends that future targets should not only be internally consistent but also with the Tinbergen Rule, named for Dutch economist Jan Tinbergen, that the number of variables to be controlled and the number of policy instruments available for the purpose must be equal.  

Added 11 June 2019: In this video clip, Dr Rajadhyaksha speaks with Ira Dugal of BloombergQuint on 'revisiting the 2-4-6-8 Macroeconomic Framework':

 

Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics on the US Economy

Mark Zandi, the Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics (@economics_ma) said that the first quarter 2019 (Q1 2019) US RGDP growth of 3.1% resulted mostly from the precautionary #Inventory #Buildup that businesses carried out in anticipation of US tariffs on Chinese goods and services; and the second quarter of 2019, Q2 2019, the  increase in RGDP  would likely be just around 1%, reflecting the normal stage of the business cycle.  He further added, that, so far #China tariffs have mainly been borne by intermediate capital goods (used by businesses to make consumer goods). They were thus absorbed by businesses. However, the tariffs will now begin impacting consumer goods, and will thus directly impact total consumption in the economy. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/video/trade-war-already-doing-damage-080815346.html via @HalfonJulien @YahooFinanceUK