Maintaining that there is a "prolonged" economicuncertainty in the US despite billions of dollars pumped in the world's largesteconomy, a former Ambassador to America today said India was able to come outof the downturn in spite of a much smaller stimulus package.
Asian countries which were able to come out of the downturnrelatively faster were China, which undertook huge domestic stimulus, andIndia, which announced small revival package, said Meera Shankar, who served asIndia's Ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2011.
"Today we see a prolonged economic uncertainty in theUS and crisis in the eurozone," Shankar said delivering a lecture on 'Roleof US in Asia-Pacific', organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).
The Indian stimulus in the face of the crisis was worth Rs20,000 crore. The US, on the other hand, has so far pumped in or committed overUSD 2 trillion to revive growth since the onset of global credit crisis inSeptember 2008.
Shankar said Asian countries like China, India, South Koreaand Indonesia have been displaying economic dynamism and achieving high growthdespite the global downturn.
"The kind of action Government of India took waslimited but more targeted because we didn't had too much of fiscal space orresources to play around with. But, we were able to come back with 8 per centgrowth after the crisis.
"Asia is home to some of the most dynamic economies andit will be a centre of renewed US engagement and focus."
The US recognises that its relationship with China isimportant but very complex, the IFS officer said. "For the US, theirrelationship with China is perhaps the most important and also the mostcomplex," she said, adding engagements with Beijing would be an importantpart of American strategies.
On the defence front, Shankar she said at present about 50per cent of the US Naval resources are deployed in Asia and 50 per cent in theAtlantic.
Washington's aim now is to bring this to 60-40 ratio - thatis 60 per cent resource deployment in Asia-Pacific region and reduce presencein other areas, she added.
