World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick on Saturday said the Dubai debt crisis is manageable and it would not affect India.
“I personally think that the Dubai financial problem would be contained and is manageable. I don’t think it to have an effect on Indian markets,” Mr. Zoellick said.
Mr. Zoellick was talking to reporters here after a meeting with policy makers, including Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Though India would not be hurt, he said events in Dubai, due to the nervousness in financial markets, may prompt a second or a third look at investments in emerging markets.
About the meeting, to understand how India is coming out of the global financial crisis, he said the policy makers feel the stimulus has helped the economy.
“I got a general sense that they feel that the fiscal expansion has played an important role,” Mr. Zoellick said on the final day of his four-day visit to India.
“And, overtime as they (India) return to growth they are also going to try to get some fiscal consolidation,” he added.
Speaking on the priorities of Indian policy makers, he said they are more interested in longer term investments like foreign direct investment rather than portfolio investment.
“I think what I get as the principal interest of Indian policy makers is for longer term investment, not portfolio investment, so much as foreign direct investment,” he said.
