Toronto, June 27 (IANS) In an stand similar to that of India’s, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Sunday proposed a calibrated approach in tackling the global financial crisis by not withdrawing the economic stimulus immediately but cutting fiscal deficit by half by 2013.
‘This is a tightrope we must walk,’ Harper, the host of G-20 Summit, said at its opening plenary, as this group of rich and emerging economies seemed inching closer toward a consensus on the final communique.
India, too, has been advocating a balance between debt and growth, recognizing that the action required by each country had to be different and tailor-made for its own need, rather than a one-size-fits-all policy.
Countries like India, the US, Canada and most of the emerging economies are worried that any move by industrialized nations to slash spending could derail the upturn of the global economy, given the sluggish growth thus far.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also scheduled to speak at the plenary later. He had earlier maintained that the challenge before G-20 will be three-fold:
* To ensure that global economic recovery is durable, balanced and sustainable,
* To calibrate exit strategies in the light of growing concerns over expansionary fiscal policies, and
* To focus on medium and long-term structural issues relating to governance issues.
