US should check its sub-prime crisis, says PM

The PM stresses that India could hold its annual growth rate at 9 to 9.5 per cent despite international pressures, reports Amit Baruah.

"We hope the US will take effective and credible steps to check the sub-prime crisis,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday. Taking questions at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Prime Minister stressed that India could hold its annual growth rate at 9 to 9.5 per cent despite international pressures.

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In response to a question on the 4.9 billion euro scam at French bank Societe Generale, Sarkozy said it was “internal fraud” and did not in any way affect the stability and security of the country’s banking system.

Societe Generale announced on Thursday that a single trader, who is said to have fooled his bosses, was responsible for the massive fraud — one of the biggest scams in financial history.

Sarkozy said he would be meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and an Italian representative in London on Tuesday to put forward new proposals to deal with issues in international markets.

Asked whether he had “summoned” steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal over the proposed closure of a plant in France, Sarkozy responded: “He is my friend. We are not in the habit of calling captains of companies. I have known him (for long).”