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Amid hectic efforts to reach a deal on fixing indicators on global economic imbalances, India, at the G-20 meeting here on Saturday, said it was not responsible for creating volatility in the international markets.
Ministers from world's top economies are engaged in talks to arrive at an agreement on measuring global economic imbalances amid tough resistance from China and India saying it does not want a ‘one-size-fits-all deal.'
“India did not [and does not] contribute either to the build-up, or to the persistence of global imbalances...Nor does it contribute to the volatility in several international markets, including commodity markets,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at the G-20 Finance Ministers meeting.
Working group
The G-20 developed and developing countries, including India, China, Russia, Brazil, the U.S., the U.K., Germany and France, had formed a working group to decide on such indicators.
There have been proposals to frame indicators based on pubic sector debt, private savings, real effective foreign exchange rates and foreign exchange reserves.
China, sitting over large foreign exchange reserve of nearly $3 trillion and having a big current account surplus, is fiercely opposed to these indices. It, instead, wants trade surplus to be taken into account.
India, on its part, has suggested that further efforts be made to reach a consensus on the contentious issues, saying if there was no unanimity, “then that part of the communiqué can be deferred.”
Mr. Mukherjee told reporters that efforts were under way to arrive at a common ground.
Earlier, in his speech he said India was vulnerable to seasonal factors and their effect on the food prices. “As a result of vagaries of weather, India has witnessed a high and unsustainable inflation on the food items,” Mr. Mukherjee said.
The Minister said persistent high prices of food and commodities globally “do not give us room for comfort in tackling food inflation in India.”
India's current phase of growth has been more or less evenly balanced between consumption and investment on the one hand, and between domestic demand and external demand, on the other. However, India “has its own share of concerns arising from elevated commodity and asset prices and economic problems of a more structural nature that underlie the uncertainties in the global economy,” he said.
Some of these uncertainties also derive from the aggressive macro-economic policy response to the global crisis itself, he said.
Ministers from world's top economies are engaged in talks to arrive at an agreement on measuring global economic imbalances amid tough resistance from China and India saying it does not want a ‘one-size-fits-all deal.'
“India did not [and does not] contribute either to the build-up, or to the persistence of global imbalances...Nor does it contribute to the volatility in several international markets, including commodity markets,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at the G-20 Finance Ministers meeting.
Working group
The G-20 developed and developing countries, including India, China, Russia, Brazil, the U.S., the U.K., Germany and France, had formed a working group to decide on such indicators.
There have been proposals to frame indicators based on pubic sector debt, private savings, real effective foreign exchange rates and foreign exchange reserves.
China, sitting over large foreign exchange reserve of nearly $3 trillion and having a big current account surplus, is fiercely opposed to these indices. It, instead, wants trade surplus to be taken into account.
India, on its part, has suggested that further efforts be made to reach a consensus on the contentious issues, saying if there was no unanimity, “then that part of the communiqué can be deferred.”
Mr. Mukherjee told reporters that efforts were under way to arrive at a common ground.
Earlier, in his speech he said India was vulnerable to seasonal factors and their effect on the food prices. “As a result of vagaries of weather, India has witnessed a high and unsustainable inflation on the food items,” Mr. Mukherjee said.
The Minister said persistent high prices of food and commodities globally “do not give us room for comfort in tackling food inflation in India.”
India's current phase of growth has been more or less evenly balanced between consumption and investment on the one hand, and between domestic demand and external demand, on the other. However, India “has its own share of concerns arising from elevated commodity and asset prices and economic problems of a more structural nature that underlie the uncertainties in the global economy,” he said.
Some of these uncertainties also derive from the aggressive macro-economic policy response to the global crisis itself, he said.