Standard & Poor’s downgrading of US sovereign rating is a wake-up call for the American economy but India should keep up its “excellent” growth record, the Chief Economic Advisor, Mr Kaushik Basu, said today.
“While I personally feel the US economy is very strong, rating downgrade like this is a wake-up call,” he told PTI.
In an unprecedented move, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the US Government’s ‘AAA’ sovereign credit rating stating that predictability about American policy making and political institutions have weakened at a time of fiscal challenge.
However, officials in the US Treasury said the decision of S&P was flawed.
Mr Basu said it was time India focused on sustaining its growth. “Instead of wasting time ...debating whether S&Ps is doing a good job, we should redouble our effort to keep up our excellent track record of growth,” he said.
Despite global uncertainties and high inflation, Indian economy grew 8.5 per cent in fiscal 2010-11. It may slightly decline this fiscal, but is expected to stay above eight per cent, according to the RBI and the government projections.