Rapid economic growth only solution for recovery: BRICS

Cannes: Leaders of emerging giants Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) on Thursday expressed serious concern over fresh instability and volatility in markets and said rapid economic growth in a sustained and balanced manner was the only solution to recover from it.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Chinese President Hu Jintao and South Africa President Jacob Zuma met at Hotel Carlton here in this French coastal resort prior to the meeting of the world’s biggest economies.

“The leaders agreed that the eurozone sovereign debt crisis was a matter of serious concern for the global economy and had caused fresh instability and volatility in markets after the 2008 economic crisis,” said a BRICS statement issued after the meeting.

[caption id=“attachment_122918” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the G20 Summit in Cannes. Eric Feferberg/AFP”] [/caption]

“They agreed that the only way to emerge from this crisis was to ensure rapid economic growth in a sustained and balanced manner, on a global basis,” it said.

The leaders expressed their full support to Europe’s efforts to find an early solution to the crisis, underlining that the solution to the crisis had to be found by the European Union and the eurozone countries themselves.

The statement said the leaders expressed their support for a greater role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in efforts to help resolve the eurozone sovereign debt crisis.

The leaders agreed to intensify consultations between their financial and fiscal officials on a continuing basis to enhance coordination and exchange of views among themselves, including on the margins of the G-20 meetings.

Prime Minister Singh also extended a personal invitation to the leaders for the next BRICS Summit in New Delhi on 29 March 2012, which was accepted by all leaders.

Several European nations, including Greece, Portugal and Spain, are facing financial problems and a sovereign default is expected to have a severe impact on the whole region.

PTI