Pranab for concrete steps to tackle global economic problems

PRANAB-ECONOMY
From Lalit K Jha
Washington (PTI) - Amid fears of a second dip
recession, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said
that "concrete steps" will have to be taken to deal with the
situation as there is no ready made formula to address the
problems.
"We are in a situation when international economic
situation is very difficult. There is a lurking doubt whether
a second dip recession is going to take place and what role
international financial institutions and all the organisations
(will play) to overcome the crisis," Mukherjee said in an
interaction with Indian journalists in Washington yesterday.
"There has been no ready made suggestion or formula but
everybody (has) underlined the need of taking concrete steps,"
he added.
Mukherjee, who is here to attend the annual meetings of
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, said
crisis has manifested in different forms in different
parts of the world.
"The general tendency in the advanced world is that the
expected level of recovery has not taken place, though the
process of recovery began after the 2008 crisis. But it was
fragile, uneven and very poor, not of very high order," he
added.
"(In) Some of the emerging market economies, the
recovery was quick. First was of course China, followed by
India, followed by Latin America, followed by some of the
African countries, including South Africa. But there, the
problems are high rate of commodity and fuel prices, inflation
pressure, effecting the growth and also destabilising the
fiscal consolidation process," he said.
Mukherjee, who during his stay here had several
bilateral meetings with his counterparts from France, Japan,
Sri Lanka and Iran, besides meeting the World Bank President,
said volatility in stock and commodity prices has led to
erratic capital inflows.
Attributing volatility in capital flows to easing of
monetary policies in some developed countries, Mukherjee said,
"The problem is complex and there is no simple solution or
outcome of these."
"In various meetings so far, we have exchanged our
views, shared our perception and expressed our desire to
tackle the problem collectively," Mukherjee said.
He added that G-20 finance ministers will discuss the
issues at their meeting in Paris in October ahead of the
leaders summit at Cannes in November.
Mukherjee Friday attended the Plenary Session of
Annual Meeting of IMF and World Bank. He also attended the
joint International Monetary and Finance Committee (IMFC) and
World Economic Forum meetings consisting of 24 Ministers and
24 CEOs.