Home minister P Chidambaram today said, "India will see a slowdown in growth". FY09 GDP growth rate will be between 7 and 8 per cent, he added.
He said inflation to moderate, growth will be satisfactory. He also stressed on the need for close co-ordination between Finance Minister and the Reserve Bank of India.
The new union home minister P Chidambaram today defended the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision to keep the finance portfolio with himself saying that "Prime Minister would be the best person to guide economy in this difficult year."
Speaking to media persons before joining his new office in the North bloc, Chidambaram said that in a difficult year when the economy required close co-ordination between the Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission and the Prime Minister's office, "Nobody was better than the Prime Minister to do this job."
On his new assignment, he merely said "one learns to take whatever duty is given to you."