Growing India can help the world economy: PM

New York, Sep 24 (PTI) As the global financial crisis
deepened, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday
said a fast growing India can help the world economy, around
which no protectionist barriers should be erected.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Singh said India
wants to quicken the pace of its transformation in partnership
with the international community.
"A fast growing India can expand the boundaries for the
global economy," he said, adding developing countries need
investment, technology and market access for their products.
Despite global headwinds, Indian economy has been
expanding close to 8 per cent, the second fastest growth in
the world after China.
In the backdrop of protectionist measures in several
developed countries, Singh called upon the international
community not to let economic slowdown trigger barriers to
movement of people, services and capital.
"We should not allow the global economic slowdown to
become a trigger for building walls around ourselves through
protectionism or erecting barriers ...," he said.
Singh said the world economy is in trouble. "The shoots
of recovery which were visible after the economic and
financial crisis of 2008 have yet to blossom. In many respects
the crisis has deepened even further," he said.
The Prime Minister also highlighted the need for reform
of governance systems of international financial institutions,
stating "deficit in global governance" was one of the several
things which can be done collectively.
Expressing concern over the world economy being in
trouble, the Prime Minister said the recessionary trends in
the US, Europe and Japan are affecting confidence in world
financial and capital markets.
He said these developments are bound to have a negative
impact on developing countries which have to bear the
additional burden of inflationary pressures.
His comments come in the backdrop of India battling a
near double-digit inflation, which has been exasperated by a
sharp fall in rupee value, pushing up the landed cost of
commodity imports, including the crude oil.
Singh said a spiral in energy and food prices are
introducing instability, especially for the developing
countries.
"There are still millions living in poverty across the
world. Their plight has worsened, for no fault of theirs, due
to the global economic and financial crisis of the recent
years. The actions of governments around the world are,
therefore, under close scrutiny," he said.
Referring to India's progress, he said in the last few
decades tens of millions of people have been lifted out of
abject poverty, "we are in a position to feed our population
better, to educate them better and to widen their economic
choices. But we still have a very long way to go".