Hard to stop the slide

......Convening a meeting of the corporate bosses therefore is meant to convey the impression that the government is concerned about the downturn in the economy, rather than about doing something really concrete to about it. Notwithstanding the perfunctory claims by finance minister and others in the government that ` all is well’ each time the currency plumbs new depths of depreciation, there can be no denying that economic policy- makers are unsure about measures to support the rupee against a further slide. On Sunday, Chidambaram met RBI Governor D Subbarao, the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman C. Rangarajan and Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram. Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and a great talker in his own right, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, also attended. According to reports, they discussed the pressure on the rupee and steps to be taken to hold it from falling further. A day later, the rupee touched a new all- time high. On Monday, the RBI intervened in the foreign exchange market, which helped the rupee end the day at 60.62 against the dollar. But, frankly, if the structural weaknesses in the economy remain unaddressed, the central bank will run out of dollars to ease the pressure on the currency...........

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