Indian PM takes over finance portfolio
INDIA: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken temporary
charge of the finance ministry, officials said Wednesday, at a time of
slowing growth, stubbornly high inflation and a falling rupee. The
finance portfolio fell vacant Tuesday following the ministerial
resignation of Pranab Mukherjee, who left to contend India's
presidential election in July.
“The prime minister has decided to look after the finance ministry
for a month or two. A new finance minister will only be appointed when
he thinks the time is right,” an official in Singh's office told AFP.
India's once-booming economy is suffering from slowing industrial
growth, troublesome fiscal and current account deficits and a stalled
reform agenda.
The economy grew just 5.3 percent in January to March, its slowest
quarterly expansion in nine years.
A former governor of the International Monetary Fund, Singh
previously served as finance minister between 1991 and 1996, when he
famously launched the reforms that opened the Indian economy.
AFP
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