Gloomy days ahead for state

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The recession might not have hit the state as hard as feared but the Economic Review (ER) 2009, tabled in the Assembly on Thursday, heralds ominous tidings for the states economy.

``Kerala did somewhat better that the national economy, with a GSDP growth rate of 6.98 percent compared to the GDP growth rate of 6.7 percent for the country as a whole,�� the ER notes. But in the same breath it says a mere achievement of a high growth rate of GSDP is not enough to ameliorate the distress in which the state is already in.

The ER speaks of a ``new bubble�� that is arising in the foodgrain market.

This will set off what the review terms an ``inflationary recession�� in the world, particularly India. ``For Kerala this would mean bleak employment prospects, subdued prices for cash crops, and escalating prices for foodgrains,�� the ER notes.

Though Finance Minister Thomas Isaac made much of the state�s above-national- average GSDP growth at a press conference here on Thursday, the ER is suspicious of the efficacy of a high growth rate.