Time not ripe for withdrawal of stimulus package: PM

HUA HIN(THAILAND): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said time is not ripe for withdrawal of stimulus packages given by the government to bail out economy from the impact of the global financial meltdown.

"Time not ripe for withdrawal of stimulus packages", he told reporters here after conclusion of twin summits of ASEAN and East Asian leaders. Singh said that the issue of stimulus package was discussed at the ASEAN meeting and the global leaders were for a balanced approach.

But he parried questions on interest rates and RBI's upcoming monetary policy saying it is the "preserve" of the Reserve bank of India.

The Reserve Bank is slated to announce the quarterly review of the monetary policy on October 27. He said RBI is an independent body and he would not like to comment.

Replying to another question he said that India and ASEAN had agreed to expedite trade agreement in services as part of efforts to broad base the Free Trade agreement.

The government has provided several stimulus packages since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September last year to boost the economy.

Earlier in the day, Singh said that everybody should learn lessons from the global economic crisis.

"We must learn lessons from the global economic crisis. One of these is the need to ensure coordination in our growth policies. The other is to keep the real economy strong and sound," he said.