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Hyderabad, May 6 - India's Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said Saturday that the country needs more foreign investments to ensure 8-10 percent growth rate to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Addressing the board of governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), he said India would deepen reforms to address new challenges.
'Our aim is to put the country on a trend of 8-10 percent growth in order to eliminate poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,' said Chidambaram, who is also the chairman of the board of governors.
He pointed out that India achieved an average growth rate of nearly eight percent in the last three years. 'Our economic reforms over the past 15 years, the role played by the private sector and rising domestic consumption have been the drivers of this growth,' he pointed out.
'As the country moves to a higher growth rate, there is a need to supplement domestic resources with foreign investments,' he said.
Chidambaram told the governors that emerging Asia faced the challenge of maintaining high and inclusive growth, leading to sustainable development.
'International institutions like the ADB can play a catalytic role through investments in public sector infrastructure and also through support for private sector activities in the developing member countries,' he observed.
'The resurgence of Asia has been largely due to economic reforms that have brought efficiency gains, critical public investments in infrastructure, and human development. Reforms have also enlarged the space for the private sector in economic growth,' he said.
Chidambaram felt that ADB needed to re-adjust its strategy from focusing largely on public sector lending to becoming a more fleet-floated financial intermediary and knowledge bank to help developing member countries attract more private sector investment.
'The multiplier effect of ADB's assistance through a public-private partnership model would be much higher than the current reliance on public infrastructure projects,' he noted.
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