PM reviews state of economy; presses for urgent revival of investor sentiment

A day after taking charge of the Finance Ministry, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday sought to give a push to the sagging economy as he directed initiation of steps to reverse the climate of pessimism and revive investor sentiment. Dr. Singh reviewed the state of economy passing through difficult phase in a series of meetings with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan and top Finance Ministry officials.

The Prime Minister told officials to reverse the climate of pessimism and revive the animal spirit in the country's economy. He said, immediate emphasis is to manage, balance of payment for which all policies should be directed to help institutional flows to India. Dr. Singh added that in the short run, we need to revive investor sentiment, both domestic and international.

The discussions covered controlling fiscal and current account deficits in the wake of concerns shown by the global rating agencies on these counts. The fiscal deficit in 2011-12 was 5.76 per cent and current account deficit at four per cent are quite high for the economy.