Eurozone needs package to tackle debt crisis, says Pranab

New Delhi: Against the backdrop of G20 finance ministers meet to discuss global situation, India today said the eurozone will have to come out with a package to resolve its sovereign debt problem, which is also impacting developing countries. “Our stated position is that to resolve the crisis of the eurozone they will have to come out with a credible formulation and package which will resolve the issue,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on sidelines of diamond jubilee celebrations of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). [caption id=“attachment_224385” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reuters”]  [/caption] The three-day meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors starting today in Mexico comes at a time when the efforts are being made to resolve the sovereign debt problem of the European nations. Mukherjee, however, is not participating in the meet as he is pre-occupied with his next Budget to be presented on 16 March in Parliament. RBI Governor D Subbarao and Economic Affairs Secretary R Gopalan are in Mexico to take part in the meeting. With the eurozone debt problem impacting the global economy, Mukherjee said that BRICS (grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are scheduled to meet next month to discuss their strategy. “In respect of BRICS strategy, we are going to host a BRICS summit at the end of March and what will be the BRICS position in respect of that it will be discussed at the summit of the leaders,” he added. RBI recently said the European debt crisis pose a major downside risk to country’s overall growth outlook and the continuing uncertainty there “will adversely affect Indian growth through trade, finance and confidence channels”. The International Monetary Fund last month down projected 2012 growth in the eurozone from 1.1 to (–) 0.5 percent, with Italy and Spain projected to be in recession through most of 2012. PTI