Current Affairs: June 11, 2020

Notes:
‘Global Economic Prospects report’ is the flagship report of World Bank. As per the latest report released, India’s economy is estimated to contract by 3.2% in the current fiscal year 2020-21. The report also expects the Indian economy would grow at 3.1% in the next fiscal year.
In the earlier report released in April, the GDP growth rate for this fiscal year was predicted at 1.5%-2.8% growth. The growth of next year was also earlier predicted at 6.1%. The report also highlighted that global economy will contract by 5.2% in 2020.

Notes:
One of the developing countries in Asia, Vietnam has recently ratified a landmark free trade agreement with the European Union.
The lawmakers in Vietnam’s National Assembly voted to pass the deal known as ‘EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA)’. This is described as EU’s most ambitious deal with a developing country. Under the deal, EU will lift 85% of its tariffs on Vietnamese goods and cut the other tariffs over 7 years. Vietnam will lift 49% of its import duties on EU exports and shed the others by 10 years.

Notes:
The ratio of central taxes -to-GDP fell further in the fiscal year 2019-20 to 9.88 per cent, mostly due to the decline in collection from customs duties and corporation tax.
This measure is reported to be a ten-year low, as the ratio stood at 10.97 per cent in FY19 and at 11.22 per cent in FY18. Due to the stagnation in economic activity, this indicator is expected to decline further. The gross tax revenue also fell 3.39 per cent in FY20, with a shortfall of Rs 1.5-trillion as compared to the revised Budget target for the year.

Notes:
The Government has allowed filing of NIL GST monthly return in FORM GSTR-3B through SMS. The taxpayers with NIL liability are not required to log on to the GST Portal.
This step is expected to make the tax compliance easy for over 22 lakh registered taxpayers who had to otherwise log into their account and file returns every month. India ranks 115 out of around 190 countries in ease of paying taxes.

Notes:
As per the statement of the Indian Railways, the best ever safety record has been created during April 2019 – March 2020.
There has been no fatality of any railway passenger in any train accident during this period. This feat has been achieved for the first time since 1853, when the Indian Railway system was introduced in the country. About 1274 Manned Level Crossings have been eliminated in 2019-20, which is also the highest ever. More than 1000 bridges were rehabilitated and rails were renewed.