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India On Media |
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| Budget
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| Interim Budget focuses on farms, |
| Interim Budget focuses on farms, global slowdown
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| INDIA
, 16-February-2009
0:56:58 AM |
| Government paraded its economic achievements on Monday and promised help for the rural sector as it tried to shield the economy from a global credit crunch and stem job losses with elections just weeks away.
Acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee began charting spending plans for the 2009/10 fiscal year from April to July, a stop-gap measure to take care of essential spending during and in the immediate aftermath of General Elections.
The minister announced an extension of interest subsidies to debt-hit farmers, one of the first measures in his budget speech.
The spending plans are effectively a political manifesto of the Congress party-led coalition Government since nationwide elections in the world's biggest democracy must be held by mid-May.
"Extraordinary economic circumstances, very extraordinary measures, now is the time for such measures," Mukherjee told Parliament.
Faced with faltering growth, the Government has already announced two stimulus packages, including extra spending of $4 billion, while for its part the central bank has cut its key lending rate by 350 basis points since October to 5.50 percent.
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