BJP raps govt on steps to insulate economy

New Delhi, Sep 24 (UNI) Apprehending that the global economic crisis, which has bankrupted several giant institutions is sure to impact highly vulnerable Indian economy also, the BJP today asked the government to apprise the people about the road map it was contemplating to insulate the economy from the ill-effects.

BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad told newspersons here that bust in the United States was a big lesson for India that no amount of inflow of cheap money would yield any long term benefits to the country unless the fundamentals were strong and aided by sound fiscal policy.

The global giants like Morgan Stanley, UBS, Citibank and Lehman Brothers had gone bankrupt and several institutions were grasping for life, he underlined.

He said the BJP would want the government to take all timely steps for Indian economy to overcome the effects of global crisis.

The outlook of the manufacturing sector which had registered a poor growth rate of 5.2 per cent for the quarter ending June 2008 would be gloomier for the quarter ending September. Things would become worse since the government had hiked up the interest rates to contain inflation hovering around 12.14 per cent. Indian exports are sure to be impacted by the prevailing trends in the world.

The BJP was worried about the fate of small investors as the stock market situation in the country had turned grim. The Foreign Institutional Investors had withdrawn eight billion dollars upto September this year and two billion dollars in this month alone from the stock market. The government which was contemplating to allow 'free run' to the financial institutions should see the writing on the wall and abandon its adventurist path charted for the Indian economy, Mr Prasad added.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is currently touring the US should raise the issue of hundreds of professional Indians losing their jobs. Any inapt handling by the UPA regime would only aggravate the situation bringing misery to common man, he cautioned.

UNI MCN/KAS ATI HT1745