As government prepares to unveil some measures to revive the economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says India cannot expect “outside help” on a scale which can see the country through its difficulties.
“We have to raise our economy through our own good steps,” Dr. Singh told reporters accompanying him on board his special aircraft late Saturday while returning home after a eight-day foreign tour.
Fresh from attending the G20 Summit in Mexico and the Rio+20 Summit in Brazil, Dr. Singh said the events of the last couple of days convinced him more than ever before that there are no international solutions to the problems of a country of India’s size.
“We must plan our economy in such a manner that we cannot expect outside help on a scale which can see us through our difficulties,” he said.
The government is likely to announce some measures on Monday to shore up confidence in the financial markets and revive the economy before Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee demits office to contest the Presidential elections as the United Progressive Alliance nominee.
Dr. Singh promised that problems with regard to the fiscal management will be tackled effectively and credibly.
“There are problems with regard to management of the balance of payments deficit on the current account. Those problems also we will tackle. It will not be proper for me to talk about these things in detail, but, you have my assurance that I recognise that we have to work our way to restore the momentum of growth that India needs and which the people of India want the Government of India to work for,” he said.
Dr. Singh that India will have to work harder than ever before in restoring fiscal balance.
“We have to work systematically to ensure that the balance of payment problem is managed properly and the climate for foreign investment, both direct and portfolio is also favourably motivated.
“We owe it to our country to take all the necessary decisions which would return the country to a high growth path. There are problems with regard to the fiscal management. We will tackle that problem effectively and credibly.”
Noting that India was a semi federal polity, Dr. Singh said cooperative federalism made it incumbent on all political parties, those ruling at the Centre and those ruling in States, to work together to find credible ways and means to get this country moving again on to the high growth path which it had achieved until 2011-12.
Dr. Singh also said a lot of things which are not going right, they have their origins outside India. At the same time, he admitted that there have been problems in our own country.
“The 2008 financial crisis affected our growth rate. Our growth rate fell from 9 per cent to 6.7 per cent and we recovered in next two years but then came the Euro zone crisis and therefore there is a flight of capital from large number of developing countries,” he said.
“Capital in search of safety wants to go to Germany, wants to go to the United States and therefore all developing countries, including China, are experiencing a deceleration of growth rates,” he added.
