Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday prioritised reanimating the State’s immobilised economy.
He said the COVID-19-impelled suspension of economic activity had caused several new crises to crop up. The government had asked Secretaries of various departments to come up with detailed plans of action to prevent the tourism, IT, fisheries, farm, handloom, cashew, coir, education, real estate, and construction sectors from falling into further decline.
Mr. Vijayan said he expected the secretaries to suggest concrete measures to halt the free fall and quicken the turnaround of the State’s economy. They would have to factor in the steep fall in remittances from the Gulf, return of non-resident Keralites in large numbers, rising public health expenditure, collapse of government revenue, possibility of raising money from the open market by issuing sovereign bonds, and getting the Centre to extend special relief packages tailored to Kerala’s requirements. The Chief Minister said the State Planning Commission was also studying the situation to help the government.
