| dc.description.abstract | One quite indisputable gain of the reform has been the increasing openness of the economy. The rise in the
openness ratio began in the mid-1980s and accelerated in the 1990s, following the depreciation of the currency
in 1990-91. However, the 1997-98 budget and the current exchange rate policy, it is argued here, will lead to
a stagnation in the openness ratio, unless corrections are made. A bolder investment programme and a fairly
large depreciation of the currency would lead to a sustainable growth in excess of 9 per cent. Without such
correction, growth is likely to fall after a year to less than 6 per cent and would bring back the situation of
^payments problem that characterised the late 1980s. Of course, the current orthodoxy of the policy-makers
and the RBI would have to go. | |
