Tariff war will worsen economy more than COVID-19 pandemic: Kerala Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal
Mr. Balagopal was speaking after inaugurating a two-day seminar 'Post-COVID Development Challenges and Response: Kerala through the lens of State budgets' organized by the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation (GIFT) in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday (August 5, 2025).
'It has to be examined how these policies impact the Indian economy and specifically Kerala, whose exports cover multiple sectors,' he said.
The Finance Minister suggested that the academic community organise a roundtable discussion on the implications of these policies for India and Kerala to generate clarity on what lies ahead for the economy.
'Dangerous situation' ahead
Mr. Balagopal said he perceived a 'dangerous situation' ahead, referring to recent demands that 'India should reduce its tariffs.'
'The tariff war looming over us will worsen our economy further,' he said, adding that the influx of imports at low tariffs would create an economic situation 'much worse than the COVID-19 pandemic.'
M.A. Oommen, eminent economist and Distinguished Professor at GIFT who chaired the session, underscored the need for Kerala to focus on the protection and conservation of its rich biodiversity, tackle the spectre of corruption and nurture the public sector enterprises. Mr. Oommen lauded Mr. Balagopal for an 'excellent linear programming exercise' in steering Kerala's economy through a period of fiscal stress.
Pointing out that major challenges lay ahead for the economy in the years ahead, he urged Left democratic forces to rise up to the occasion.
C. Balagopal, chairman, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), said current policies and public finance constraints should be understood within the framework of whether government policies are promoting the growth of value addition in sectors, and what needs to be done to generate more value addition in them. 'How the sectoral distribution of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) and the State meeting total factor productivity (TFP) are pertinent questions,' he said.
Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) K.R. Jyothilal, GIFT director K.J. Joseph and GIFT registrar Saraf A. also spoke.
Senior economists and planning experts are attending the seminar which focusses on development issues that Kerala has been facing since the pandemic.
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