Mid Term Appraisal of the Ninth Five Year Plan (1997 - 2002)

Abstract

The Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002) was conceived against a backdrop of three consecutive years of high growth when the economy grew at an average rate of 7.2 per cent. The Approach Paper presented to the National Development Council (NDC) in February 1997 therefore proposed a growth target of 7 per cent for the Ninth Plan, which was accepted. However, the fall of the first United Front (UF) Government in 1997 and the second UF Government in 1998 led to a delay in finalising the Plan. The Ninth Plan was finally approved by NDC only in February 1999. It was evident by then that economic growth had slowed down to 5 per cent in 1997-98 and that recovery may also take time. Recognising the loss of momentum in the first year of the Plan, the growth target for the Ninth Plan proposed to the NDC was reduced to 6.5 per cent, which required an average growth of about 7 per cent in the last four years.