DAVOS: India and other G20 countries do not have enough fiscal headroom to tackle another global crisis of the magnitude that happened in 2008, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said.
"The situation was much more comfortable in April 2009 than it is now, and governments will find it difficult to provide the kind of stimulus packages we were able to offer then," he told ET after meetings with world trade leaders and IMF chief Christine Lagarde.
"We are keeping a close eye on capital flows and the situation in the Euro zone," he said.
He also assured international investors at Davos that the Indian government has not rolled back its decision to allow 100% FDI in multi-brand retail. "It is going to happen, there's no question of a rollback, we are just building consensus," he said, though he refused to specify a time frame.
Speaking to ET, he pointed out that he'd had a stream of meetings with representatives of top global retail brands. "They live in countries where there is a democratic set-up, and I think they understand," he said.
He expressed concerns on a contraction in global trade. "Exporters are sitting on inventories, and we have not seen the growth in trade that we hoped or expected, in EU or the US. It worries us, because if exports don't grow, there is pressure on the trade account, especially given the very high oil prices," he said. "However, we are still growing in exports," he said.
Anand Sharma also insisted that multilateral WTO trade talks have hope, "because even in differences, we had a very open and frank discussion."
Bilateral trade deals, he pointed out, can only supplement multilateral talks, and cannot replace them. He said that collectively, political leaders and ministers were committed to move on the stalled Doha talks.
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com