India asks G-20 to nake 'credible and ambitious' action plan

Washington - India has called upon G-20 nations, the world's top economies, to work out a "credible and ambitious" action plan to put the global economy firmly on the path of  recovery as also promote strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

The proposed action plan to be adopted by the leaders of these countries at their summit in La Cabos, Mexico in June should pay greater attention to three important issues at this juncture,  Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at a meeting of G-20 finance ministers here.

These were developing a framework to assess the progress made on G20 commitments, mainstreaming jobs and employment issues into the framework exercise and stepping up efforts to  support investment in the real sector, and especially in infrastructure, he said.

"This route to reviving global growth has not received the attention that it merits," Mukherjee said speaking on "Global Economy and Framework" on the sidelines of the annual World  Bank-IMF spring meetings.

"To the extent that much of this investment, including in infrastructure, will occur in developing countries, it would also help rebalance global demand, as also, redirect savings."

Noting that the world has "witnessed a great amount of economic and political turmoil over the past year", Mukherjee said while near term economic data has unexpectedly encouraging,

economic conditions overall remain weak, and unemployment at politically unacceptable levels.

Developing countries and emerging economies are expected to continue as growth drivers for the world economy, he said.

"The fact, however, is that even here growth has decelerated," Mukherjee said noting "the global economy is too interconnected for them to be insulated from the knockdown impact of

developments in advanced economies."
As far as India is concerned, despite adverse conditions prevailing in its external environment, it was reasonably confident that the underlying growth fundamentals remain firm, he said.

The Finance Minister said, "We are intent on ensuring that the process of fiscal consolidation gains further momentum, with monetary policy remaining vigilant in dealing with inflationary

pressures."

Mukherjee said he expected India's real GDP growth in 2011-12 to be around 7.0 per cent, and to gain further strength in the ensuing fiscal.