COVID-19: Govt should now let the economy function, says Kaushik Basu

The government was right in imposing a nationwide lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19, but it should now let the economy function normally, former chief economist of the World Bank Kaushik Basu said on Thursday.

The global market is fearing that India would slide into a 'controlled economy', which would be very damaging, he added.

Basusaid the first step (nationwidelockdown)which India tookto contain the spread of the deadly virus was correct.

"But the language around the world is changing. People are worried about economic fallout. You have to allow economy to function.

"Beyond a point, if you have a completely closed economy, and the government makes direct delivery to people, you will not succeed," the eminent economist said in a virtual interaction with the Director of Institute of Economic Growth (IEG)AjitMishra.

Basu, currently a professor of economics at Cornell University, said the next one month is going to be very crucial.

"There are some signals that global market is