A proposal to tax bank transactions to help some of the global economies tide over the current financial crises will be opposed by India at the G-20 summit, even as it will ask rich countries not to abruptly withdraw their stimuli packages, officials said on Friday.
“You cannot tax everybody to pull some countries out of the current crisis,” a top official said, ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Toronto for the G-20 Summit.
The reference was to a proposal from some countries like Britain, which proposed a tax on all bank transactions to help their financial system tide over the current financial crisis.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said at the preparatory meeting for the G-20 Summit at Busan in South Korea that tax on banking transactions was not a proposal that India will accept.
On the issue of fiscal stimulus, India’s stand is that given the fragile nature of recovery by some economies, even as others descended deeper into trouble, an abrupt withdrawal was not conducive.
“We understand the balancing act of each country will be different. But we have not yet reached a stage for consolidation,” said a senior official well versed with India’s position on a host of issues.
Manmohan Singh will attend the G-20 Summit this weekend.
