By IANS,
New Delhi : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday said the country will be able to achieve over 9 percent growth rate this fiscal, despite the global economic downturn of 2008-09.
Replying to a debate on the 2011-12 budget proposals in the Lok Sabha, Mukherjee said: “This year, we will achieve a 9 percent growth of the GDP (gross domestic product). After all, the taste of the pudding is in eating.”
Noting that the economic crisis began 2008-09 and the nation had achieved a 9 percent growth in the first quarter of that fiscal, Mukherjee said the growth rate in the last quarter of that year had come down to as low as 5.8 percent.
“It was the responsibility of the government to take action – as other nations – to sustain growth domestically, though it was not possible at that point of time. Next year, we achieved 8 percent growth,” he said.
Pointing out that the government’s major objective was to bring economy to a higher growth rate, Mukherjee asserted: “We can do it. We have been able to do it.”
He also observed that the finance minister “has a role in sustaining broad-based growth, control inflation and ensure inclusive growth.”