New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee today exuded confidence that economy will pick up
during the second half of current fiscal but overall growth
will be moderate and said the stimulus for revival of
industry would not be an annual affair.
"I am confident that in the third quarter and the
fourth quarter it will be possible for us to have good growth
but this growth will not be as good (as during the last
year)," Mukherjee told journalists at the Women's Press Corps.
Hoping that industry would follow the growth trend of
July, a month that saw factory output rising by 6.8 per cent,
the Minister said that it was imperative for him to give the
stimulus packages to help economy fight the effects of global
financial turmoil and this resulted in higher fiscal deficit.
"If the stimulus was given, it was a one-time measure.
One cannot expect this would be repeated every year... had I
not reacted, my fiscal deficit would not have gone high," he
said but cautioned that high level of budgetary gaps were not
sustainable.
Asked about the opposition to disinvestment by some
constituents of UPA, Mukherjee said, "I will manage the
coalition as we have done it in the last five years... After
all what is politics, it is to manage contradictions."
On drought, he said, the adverse impact, particularly
on the paddy crop, was over and added "with this rain, I hope
improvement. We have suggested to the state agriculture
ministers to have short duration crops". The Centre, he said,
would provide seeds for such crops.
Bureau Report
zee
First Published: Friday, September 11, 2009, 21:36