Not much scope for further stimulus to economy: PM

Pittsburgh, Sep 26 (PTI) With government finances coming
under pressure, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday
said there was not much scope for giving further stimulus to
Indian economy to safeguard it from global meltdown.

"Our response (of stimulus packages) was to a specific
domestic situation. It is true that we have limited scope for
accelerating stimulus package and our options are limited
because of factors like substantial fiscal deficit and Reserve
Bank's monetary policies," he told a press conference at the
end of G-20 summit here.

Asked whether the government would consider withdrawing
the stimulus package in view of signs of recovery or whether
it would inject a fresh dose, he said, "I would not like to
announce package or policy from the foreign soil."

As the economy started feeling the pinch of global
crisis especially after collase of Lehman Brothers in
September last year, the government had announced a series of
fiscal and monetory reliefs to stimulate demand.

But the stimulus packages led to a steep rise in the
fiscal deficit which has been pegged at 6.8 per cent for
2009-10. It was 6.2 per cent in 2008-09.

While Indian government has limited resources and
options to accelerate the stimulus, it asked the developed
nations not to abruptly withdraw the packages announced by
them.

The G-20 leaders "agreed to avoid any premature
withdrawl of stimulus", according to the statement after the
summit. MORE PTI