'Aam admi' focus of Interim Budget, says PM

New Delhi (PTI): Terming the Interim Budget as "people's budget", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said it showed that aam admi has been centre of the UPA government's planning process.

"The interim is a fine balancing act between the need to restore economy to its optimum growth path and the Constitutional constraints of a pre-election budget," he said in a statement.

Singh, who watched the presentation of the budget by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on television, said he had no doubt that the continued stimulus for various flagship programmes of the government would provide relief to all sections — especially the aam admi.

The Prime Minister said since the UPA government took over, "aam aadmi has been the centre of our planning process. This focus continues and the interim budget clearly indicates the next steps".

Singh, who is recuperating after a cardiac bypass surgery, said "it continues to be a people's budget."

Complimenting Mukherjee for his "effective response to a difficult economic situation", Singh said the benefits of the stimulus for industry and the export sector announced earlier continued to be available.

"Our stress on increasing the investment on infrastructure and employment generation has been clearly underlined. All this will result in positive turn around in economic activity and levels of confidence," he added.