Comparison with 1990 situation not correct: Pranab
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Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday admitted the current economic condition in the country was 'difficult' but rejected any comparison with the situation of 1990 when India had faced an external debt crisis.
During the CWC meeting, Mukherjee told reporters here that the current economic situation was also discussed. "I explained that an attempt is being made to make a comparison between 1990 and 2012. I think that comparison is not correct."
He said, 'yes in the life of an economy, even of a nation, there are ups and downs. You cannot show a single nation which is having continuous upward curve...There is no reason to believe that we are going back to the situation of 1990'.
"Therefore, there are fundamental differences. At that point of time, our foreign exchange reserves came down to as low as only 17 days of import... Our foreign exchange reserves now are worth importing seven and a half months, not 17 days. 290 billion US Dollars is our current foreign exchange."
The FM also admitted the current account deficit has, however, gone up from 3 per cent in 1991 to 4 per cent now.
He exuded confidence that government will be able to 'retrieve' the economy from the present state, saying steps to contain the inflation, narrowing the gap between imports and exports, reducing current account deficit and working on bringing fiscal deficit to 2 per cent of GDP.
"The situation may be difficult but it is not correct to say that we won't be able to retrieve. We will be able to retrieve the situation as had done in 1990," Mukherjee said.
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