‘10% growth must to fight poverty’

The country’s economy is expected to register a growth rate of 8.5 per cent in 2010-11, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday.

The country’s economy is expected to register a growth rate of 8.5 per cent in 2010-11, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday. He also exuded confidence that the growth rate would accelerate to 9 per cent the following year from an estimated 7.2 per cent this fiscal.

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Going forward, the country should step up the pace of economic expansion to above 10 per cent per annum in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2107) to generate employment for the youth and remove poverty, the PM said at a conference on building infrastructure hosted by the Planning Commission.

“For eliminating poverty and providing productive employment for our young population in the near future, we must aim at accelerating the pace of economic growth to above 10 per cent per annum,” Singh said, adding that other emerging economies in Asia have achieved this growth rate. He said improvement in policy regime and implementation procedures would be critical to achieve a double digit growth.