Economic Reforms Needed to Enhance Growth Rate: Pranab
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that though the immediate challenge before us is to tackle poor monsoon rains, we need economic reforms to lead the country to a 9 per cent growth road.
Speaking to a gathering at an event organized by channel ET Now, he said that the economy will grow at around 6 per cent in the current financial year that began in April 2009.
“Mitigating the impact of the deficient monsoon and the rural economy is a high priority,” he said.
He stressed that in 2007-08, growth fell sharply to 6.7 per cent rates from nearly 9 per cent seen in recent years as the global financial crisis hit exports and dented consumer confidence.
On what government is doing for reforms, Mukherjee said that government is establishing an autonomous debt management office and all efforts were being made to implement goods and service tax from next year.
The new tax reform bill will be presented in Parliament after public debate and the government would soon introduce repos in the corporate debt market. Presently, only repos in the government bond market are allowed.
Mukherjee declined to mention a time frame by when these reforms, which have been mentioned earlier by government officials, would be implemented.
