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W Bengal Finance Minister calls to stop taking IMF, WB loan

Opposition compels Singh to unfold letter
NEW DELHI. Feb 27 . Indian Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, bowing to opposition protests. revealed the content* of a letter lo the World Bank premising sweeping economic reform*, report* Rculct
Singh submitted the letter lo parliament on Wednesday after India's opposition parties paralysed the house for a second day over reports that the government had divulged bud get secrets to the World Bank lo get badly needed loans.
The opposition onslaught was led by former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, who flashed ■ sheaf of paper* aial.nl ng II was the copy of a letter that Singh had written lo the World Bank last November
You also go through this document and you will iee that the naUon's dignity and honour has been compromised to a great extent A government that does this sort of thing has no right to govern." Shekhar declared.
Opposition members, shouting ’shame, shame’ thumped their tables noisily and gave him a chorus of approval.
They cut across party lines lo accuse Singh of violating the sanctity of the budget by leaking secrets’ to the World Bank to win backing for India's economic reforms.
The fragmented opposition had united to seize on a report in Tuesday's Indian Express newspaper that Singh had excliangcd letters with the World Bank agreeing to a number of
reforms tn trade. Ilnanec and industry tn exchange for a 5OOmtllkni dollar loan
Most were World Bank recommendations or Indian policies already reported piecemeal In newspapers.
The Express said Singh agreed to 20 conditions for tlic loan that would be disbursed lau-r tills year.
Some, such as decontrolling the steel industry, liberalising trade and disInvestIng In the public see tor. have already been fulfilled.
Other conditions such as deregulating ihc financial sector to allow private sector par tlcipution have been partially Implemented.
Many of the oilier conditions concern .restructuring or closing loss-making state en tcrprlse* — a highly controversial Issue In India affecting the interests of powerful trade unions and bureaucrats — which are still under debate
World Hank official* have said the 500 million dollar structural adjustment loan would help finance a national renewal fund to retain or compensate retrenched workers
The Hank in December approved an earlier 500-million-dollar loan to support Indias relaxation of import restrictions.
Prime Minister PV Naraslmha Raos minority government will unveil on Saturday what Is widely expected lo be an austere and unpopular budget for the 1992/93 financial year that begins in April
The government began overhauling the state-dominated economy last July lo case a
crisis over India s 71 billion dollar debt
The initial reforms were rewarded by a 2 2 billion dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund and Ihc first 500 million dollar structural adjustment loan from the World Bunk.
Meanwhile, according to FIT from Calcutta: The West Bengal Finance Minister. Ashlm Dasgupta. Thursday called upon the centre to Immediately stop accepting the IMF and the World Bank loan instalments in view of the recent leakage of documents relating to the World Bank s structural adjustment loan, as reported tn the press.
Strongly decrying such leakage of the conditionalities of the IMF and tf< World Bank loan* Dasgupta said that economic experts from those organisations. who were ’sitting In tire North Block’ should go back home and take rest."We should be link our priority from the loans’, be saki
There slrould be wide-ranging discussions within the country on the terms and conditions of the loans and these should be made available to the people to safeguard the Interest of the country Dasgupta said
Hie centre he said, had disclosed that the country's foreign reserve stood st Rs 10.000 crore. of whk h an amount of Rs 5.000 crore was received from the IMF and the rest from Ilie remittance of the non resident Indians without any condition*. "So we must ut Iliac
our existing resources to achieve self-sufficiency". Dasgupta fell
98statefirms k»eRsia6b
Another Reuter despatch from Delhi adds: India, pushing radical reforms to its state-dominated economy said 98 of 233 state owned companies had a total net loss of 19.59 billion rupee In 1989/90.
The state had Invested a total of 993.3 billion rupee In the firms, which employ 2.3 million people, up to March 31. 1990. the end of the last fiscal year for which data were available. Junior Industry Minister PK Thungon told parliament
Economists say the government must close such firms or cut Jobs to keep World Bank ad International Monetary Fund backing for economic reforms
Prime Minister PV Nar aslmha Rao made plain the loss makers could not expect his minority government to bail' them out The national gtsemment s 1992/93 budget is lo be presented on Saturday.
We can revive all units not doing well by taking stern steps Thal is the gist of the new policy he told parliament.
The government, which has reversed four decade* of socialist self-sufficiency lo woo foreign investors. Is seeking to draft a policy to redeploy redundant workers.