Kochi: Former Prime Minister and Congress leader Manmohan Singh on Saturday said there was no need to be upbeat over Moody’s report in favour of India.

Stating that he continued to believe that the country was in the grip of economic slide, Singh, a noted economist, said the BJP government should understand the ground reality prevailing in the country.

The government needed to take steps to make the economy vibrant if it wanted to take the growth rate from 8 to 10 per cent, Singh said on the sidelines of a national seminar on ‘Macro Economic Developments in India: Policy Perspectives’ organised by the Economics Department of St Teresa’s College, Ernakulam.

He said the jump in crude oil prices could affect country’s economy. He blamed bureacrats for hastily implementing GST
with little preparation.

Talking to reporters, Singh praised Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for his untiring party work. Rahul will get the remuneration for all his good work, he said. But nothing can be predicted in politics. Speaking about Kerala, he said development activities had slowed down in the state.