Pittsburgh, Sep 25 - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday told the G20 summit that the time was not ripe yet to withdraw the stimulus packages that were announced to stabilise the slowdown-hit global economy, as he raised India's concerns over protectionism.
Addressing the plenary session of the G20 Summit here, the prime minister said the current global financial crisis required tackling the problems at the root to restore normalcy in the global economy.
'This requires a commitment that we will not undertake any premature withdrawal of stimulus. We must certainly plan for an orderly exit when the time is right. But that time is not now,' he said.
India has announced three stimulus packages since December last year, apart from announcing heavy doses towards public expenditure in the $204 billion national budget presented in July.
Referring to protectionism, Manmohan Singh said such steps were understandable by countries when the growth is low or slowing and unemployment is high. Yet, it was for the collective political leadership to resist these pressures.
'The collapse in export markets makes it all the more important that the market access of developing countries is not constrained by protectionism.'
The prime minister predicted a 6.3 percent economic growth for India during the current fiscal after 6.7 percent achieved during the previous year, and said a recovery to 7-7.5 percent was on the anvil in 2010-11.