Singh Confident of 8 to 9% Growth Rate
India will be able to keep up a growth rate of 8 to 9 per cent with a slight difficulty despite difficulties on the international front, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Way back from G8-G5 summit at L’Aquila in Italy, Singh told media persons on board that India’s saving is 35% with normal capital output 4: 1 and that he was confident that India would come out of this crisis stronger, but it would be a difficult road to travel.
“Our exports have suffered, capital flows from abroad have declined, and international bank lending to the developing countries have declined. Therefore, challenge for us is to sustain and revive the growth which we have built up in last five years notwithstanding the deterioration,” he added.
The Prime Minister further said: “All available indicators of 2009 points to weakening of US and European economies and therefore one can say that the global environment for development of the countries of third world has undergone on sharp deterioration.”
Earlier, the prime minister expressed confidence that in the coming two to three years, India can attain a growth rate of 8 to 9 per cent and that the government would be working to achieve it.
The Prime Minister emphasized that though the fiscal deficit is high, there is a need to rapidly expand economy, create jobs and resources for spending on flagship programmes on education, health, rural development and scope for expansion in infrastructure development.
