Country's GDP can grow by 10% a year: Lehman Brothers

New Delhi, Oct 16 (UNI) Giving a bright picture of the country's economy, the US investment bank Lehman Brothers today said the GDP is expected to stay on a growth trajectory of 10 per cent a year over the next decade.

Lehman expects the economy to grow by 8.8 per cent in 2007-08 and 9.2 per cent in the year after that.

The report released here today titled ''India: Everything to play for'' said the Indian economy is nearing an important ''inflection point'', if the country further liberalises investment rules, deregulates labour markets and keeps spending under control.

The country has the potential to raise its economic growth rate to 10 per cent or so over the next decade, it said.

India's economy has grown an average of 8.6 percent in the last four fiscal years.

In realising that goal, continued structural reforms and prudent macro policies will be critical, it added.

Labour productivity and structural changes in the business sector were key drivers of growth in recent years, the report said.

It said many characteristics shown by Asia's third-largest economy were similar to those in other emerging Asian nations during their early stages of economic take-off, such as rising incomes, an increasingly open economy and stable macroeconomic conditions stimulating demand and investments.

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