Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that Indian economy is on a firm footing and more measures will be taken to ensure enough liquidity in the financial system, if needed to deal with the global financial crisis.
“Our economy is strong. There might be a temporary slowdown but it will not be a major slowdown,” Singh said, “We are ready to take every steps needed to keep the economy sound.”
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was on a three-day maiden visit to Gulf countries of Oman and Qatar, returned home late Monday night after successfully concluding a landmark defence and security ties with Qatar and agreed to establish a Joint Investment Fund with Oman.
Ruling out any possibility of cutting fuel prices, the Prime Minister said there was no question of slashing fuel prices till companies stop making losses.
He said that oil companies had started making profit on sale of petrol but they continued to incur losses on diesel sales.
“Oil companies have to bear a very heavy burden and there are limits to which Government can go on subsidising,” he added.
On his visit to Oman and Qatar, Dr. Singh hopefully said that the free trade area agreement with Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC will be signed next year after Oman takes the leadership of the council.
With Oman, India set up a joint investment fund with an initial amount of US$ 100 million, that would eventually grow to USD 1.5 billion, for investments in infrastructure, tourism, health, telecom, utilities, urban infrastructure and other sectors. The fund would help the two countries to tackle the global financial downturn.
The defence and security cooperation agreement with Qatar has laid framework for collaboration between the two nations on maritime security, intelligence sharing, money laundering and transnational crime.
The Prime Minister giving details of his talks with Qatar leaders said, Cooperation in the energy sector remained the focal point of discussions and they agreed to augment the supply of Liquefied gas to India to meet the country’s growing energy demand.
Dr. Singh said that Qatar would also invest US$ 5 billion in different projects in India, and modalities for the investment will be worked out in next two to three months.
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