Bhubaneswar, Sunday, December 27, 2009: Economy is likely to grow by seven per cent or a “little more” in the current fiscal returning to a fast expansion pace after a sluggish 2008 due to the global economic crisis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today.

“The momentum (of growth) was …interrupted by the global economic crisis in 2008 and we slowed down to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09 and are likely to achieve seven per cent or a little more in 2009-10,” Singh said, inaugurating the 92nd Annual Conference of the Indian Economic Association (IEA) here.

Joining the debate on the impact on reforms on poverty, Singh said opening up of the Indian economy have had no adverse effect on the poor and the percentage of population below the poverty line continued to decline.

“There is no evidence that the new economic policies have had an adverse effect on the poor.