October 23, 2002	Wednesday	Sha’aban 16,1423

NEW DELHI, Oct 22: Indian Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said on Tuesday he would give top priority to economic reforms on taxation and cutting down a soaring fiscal deficit to achieve high overall growth.

Revival of the capital market by removing weaknesses, containing fiscal deficit, revival of manufacturing sector, tax reforms and pushing capital investment in agriculture would get topmost priority, Singh told state-run TV Doordarshan in an interview.

We are very clear in our mind, we must enhance production, increase GDP (gross domestic product), put more money in citizens’ pockets and housewives’ purses, he added.

Reforms are synonymous with growth. There is no ambiguity in this. Growth through reforms is the government’s priority.

He said that the government was going to keep to its target of reaching eight percent annual growth over the next five to seven years.

Singh, who swapped the foreign ministry with Yashwant Sinha four months ago, said he planned to make his tax proposals public soon and finalise them after receiving feedback.

India’s economy grew by a healthy six per cent in the three months to June from a year earlier but economists warned of a slowdown ahead due to drought.

The growth was slightly lower than in the previous quarter to March, when GDP expanded 6.4 per cent. In the same quarter last year, the economy grew by only 3.5 per cent.

Singh admitted that the drought had affected agricultural production in large parts of the country.—AFP