Chidambaram says economy more stable, no talk of downgrade

Finance Minister P Chidambaram is addressing a press conference at the Congress office.

Here are the highlights from the conference:

• The year will end more or less as we planned
• We will end the year with a fiscal deficit of 4.8 per cent as planned
• Our reserves have crossed $300 billion as of today
• Current account deficit is now likely to be much smaller, perhaps about $35 billion
• What we set out to do after my return to the Finance Ministry has been substantially accomplished
• Economy more stable, no one talks about a downgrade anymore
• We have contracted the fiscal deficit substantially, we have done better than the plan
• Current account deficit also contracted substantially and we have also added to reserves
• We have also moderated inflation
• Not saying we have tamed inflation, but we have definitely moderated inflation
• Economy is far more stable than 20 months ago, what we feared may have happened, has not happened
• I can only see steady growth provided the next government follows the 10-pont agenda outlined in my interim budget speech
• The two years that recorded the lowest growth was 2000-2001 under Yashwant Sinha as Finance Minister
• Yashwant Sinha is a distant memory in people's mind and I hope he remains that
• Hope I can hand over the economy to another firm hand
• Will consider relaxation on gold regulations after the RBI monetary policy is announced tomorrow
• The unemployment rate is lower than in the NDA regime