Pranab for concrete steps to tackle global economic problems

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Amid fears of a second dip recession, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that 'concrete steps' will have to be taken to deal with the situation as there is no ready made formula to address the problems.

"We are in a situation when international economic situation is very difficult. There is a lurking doubt whether a second dip recession is going to take place and what role international financial institutions and all the organisations (will play) to overcome the crisis," Mukherjee said in an interaction with Indian journalists in Washington on Friday.

"There has been no ready made suggestion or formula but everybody (has) underlined the need of taking concrete steps," he added.

Mukherjee, who is here to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, said crisis has manifested in different forms in different parts of the world.

"The general tendency in the advanced world is that the expected level of recovery has not taken place, though the process of recovery began after the 2008 crisis. But it was fragile, uneven and very poor, not of very high order," he added.

"(In) Some of the emerging market economies, the recovery was quick. First was of course China, followed by India, followed by Latin America, followed by some of the African countries, including South Africa. But there, the problems are high rate of commodity and fuel prices, inflation pressure, effecting the growth and also destabilising the fiscal consolidation process," he said.

Mukherjee, who during his stay here had several bilateral meetings with his counterparts from France, Japan, Sri Lanka and Iran, besides meeting the World Bank President, said volatility in stock and commodity prices has led to erratic capital inflows.

Attributing volatility in capital flows to easing of monetary policies in some developed countries, Mukherjee said, "The problem is complex and there is no simple solution or outcome of these."

"In various meetings so far, we have exchanged our views, shared our perception and expressed our desire to tackle the problem collectively," Mukherjee said.

He added that G-20 finance ministers will discuss the issues at their meeting in Paris in October ahead of the leaders summit at Cannes in November.

Mukherjee on Friday attended the plenary session of Annual Meeting of IMF and World Bank. He also attended the joint International Monetary and Finance Committee (IMFC) and World Economic Forum meetings consisting of 24 ministers and 24 CEOs.