Job losses would be temporary, says Montek Ahluwalia

The government on Friday said the current economic situation could lead to some job losses, but these would only be temporary with economy poised to grow at seven per cent this fiscal.

"Certainly in sectors that are badly affected, if we are not able to completely counter the effect of recession, there may be some job losses. We hope they will be temporary," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters while briefing on the stimulus package.

He said the idea behind this package is to ensure that economy does not slow down too much.

Ahluwalia said the economy is expected to grow at seven per cent this fiscal and that will be a good performance.

"So, when I say that this package will hopefully generate a growth rate of seven per cent, that is a growth rate that is certainly consistent with the total number of jobs in the economy increasing," he said.

The Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, however, said it is not possible to completely counter the impact of an external slowdown.

"But with this package what we are doing is minimising the pain on that score," he added.

Source: Agencies