Emphasising the need to revive investment environment in the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said that the immediate priority before the government was to achieve 8.2 percent growth.
“Courage and some risks are needed to achieve high growth,” Dr Singh stressed.
The Prime Minister was speaking at a Planning Commission meeting with top government economists to discuss India's five-year economic strategy and look at trimming expenditure in the light of an economic slowdown.
Singh said that the 12th Plan growth target has been lowered to 8.2 percent from 9 percent estimated earlier. Singh justified this by saying that the global scenario is not very conducive and to lower the growth target is a realistic attempt.
Asserting that short-term economic problems present a challenge, the Prime Minister said that the current requirement is to speed up the pace of implementation of infra projects. He said that this will boost investment sentiment in the country.
Singh said that the country needs to revive investment to attain 8.2 percent growth and added that USD 1 trillion is required currently to revive the infrastructure sector.
On the hike in diesel prices, he said that Increase in price was an important step in the right direction.
The prime minister said that poverty declined twice as fast between 2004-05 and 2009-10 than it did in the previous 10 years.
