PM in denial on economic situation: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of living in denial over the country's economic situation.

Talking to reporters after the Prime Minister's comment that the "fundamentals of economy" were strong, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said it was time for the government to wake up.

"Government is trying to hide away from the downgrade of India's growth forecast. This report is a wake up call," he said.

"It is not too late to see what the reality is and to respond to the situation," he said.

Commenting on the global rating agencies which recently cut India's growth forecast for 2012-13, citing lack of policy reforms and slowdown in manufacturing and exports and a below average monsoon, the prime minister said: "The fundamentals of the economy are strong. We have the highest savings and investments rate in the world."

Unwarranted conclusions should not be drawn on the economy's growth prospects, he stressed.

Moody's said on Aug 8 that the slowdown has been sharper and more broad-based than anticipated and is now deeply entrenched across all sectors of the economy as it cut the growth rate to 5.5 percent.