Withdrawal of stimulus will be gradual: Cab secy
The Times of India, November 17, 2009, Page 27
TIMES NEWS NETWORK, New Delhi
Ruling out any change in government's stand on withdrawal of stimulus packages, cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar said on Monday that the immediate concern of the government was addressing issues of supply constraints and easing of prices. "There are supply constraints in some commodities globally as well as in India. We have removed import duties on most of those goods and the situation is improving," he told reporters on the sidelines of a business meet here.
Chandrasekhar said the government would not withdraw the stimulus measures until the economy returns to high growth and when it actually does, the withdrawal will be gradual.
Right now all indications are that there is no immediate need to change the stimulus package, he added. "The general indication today is that stimulus will continue this year, that is the indications given by everybody. Let us not think stimulus is something that will be withdrawn all at once," Chandrasekhar said. And when the government would start considering withdrawal, Chandrasekhar said certain items in the stimulus packages would still be retained benefiting specific sectors.
Among other food items, prices of retail sugar have risen by 90% to Rs 38 a kg from Rs 20 a kg during October last year.
The top bureaucrat attributed this primarily to global shortage. He said the Centre is keeping a watch on prices. The government has taken steps like allowing duty-free imports of both raw and white sugar and banning of futures trading in the commodity.
Blaming the rise in prices to a chain of intermediaries who "do not always work competitively", finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "Our agriculture markets are characterised by market imperfections...a huge gap exists between the consumer price and the price received by primary producers."
The Times of India, November 17, 2009, Page 27
TIMES NEWS NETWORK, New Delhi
Ruling out any change in government's stand on withdrawal of stimulus packages, cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar said on Monday that the immediate concern of the government was addressing issues of supply constraints and easing of prices. "There are supply constraints in some commodities globally as well as in India. We have removed import duties on most of those goods and the situation is improving," he told reporters on the sidelines of a business meet here.
Chandrasekhar said the government would not withdraw the stimulus measures until the economy returns to high growth and when it actually does, the withdrawal will be gradual.
Right now all indications are that there is no immediate need to change the stimulus package, he added. "The general indication today is that stimulus will continue this year, that is the indications given by everybody. Let us not think stimulus is something that will be withdrawn all at once," Chandrasekhar said. And when the government would start considering withdrawal, Chandrasekhar said certain items in the stimulus packages would still be retained benefiting specific sectors.
Among other food items, prices of retail sugar have risen by 90% to Rs 38 a kg from Rs 20 a kg during October last year.
The top bureaucrat attributed this primarily to global shortage. He said the Centre is keeping a watch on prices. The government has taken steps like allowing duty-free imports of both raw and white sugar and banning of futures trading in the commodity.
Blaming the rise in prices to a chain of intermediaries who "do not always work competitively", finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "Our agriculture markets are characterised by market imperfections...a huge gap exists between the consumer price and the price received by primary producers."
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