PARESH GANDHI
‘Channelize surpluses
for infrastructure in
developing nations’
LALIT K JHA
Amid recessionary fears in advanced economies, India’s Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee last week called for channelizing global surpluses to build infrastructure in developing nations to boost world economy.
Insisting that growth process needs to be made more broad-based and especially strengthened in developing countries, he said the G20 needs to focus more
sharply on the development aspects.
‘If we need to add demand to the global economy to offset the moderation of
demand by industrialized countries as they contract final output, perhaps a good
way of doing this is to expand infrastructure investment in developing economies,’
Mukherjee said.
He was speaking at the G20 Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’
dinner meeting. The G20 is a grouping of developed and developing nations.
Mukherjee said many emerging economies have developed the capacity to grow
rapidly but are constrained by poor infrastructure.
“Financing infrastructure development in these economies could contribute to
sustainable global growth,” he added.
Talking about the G20 Cannes Summit, Mukherjee said that it should focus on
medium-term growth: ‘...our medium term action plan for Cannes may not seem
credible unless it addresses short-term growth and stability concerns as well.’
He said the stress in euro zone and policy options of handling them should be in
the G20 Framework.
Press Trust of India
India takes up
visa-rejection
issue with US
India last week conveyed its concern to the
United States over the increasing number
of rejections of H1B visa applications of
professionals, especially in the informa-tion-technology sector, who need these permits for execution of temporary onsite contracts.
Press Trust of India
