MUMBAI, JUNE 6: The political advisor to the Prime Minister, Pramod Mahajan, today expressed confidence that Indian economy was strong enough to withstand sanctions imposed by the USA and other countries following the nuclear tests at Pokharan. Mahajan said the credit rating by the international agencies were important but were not the law.India's credit ratings have been downgraded in the past but the country continued to run, he asserted. He said 95 per cent of the economy's resources came from within the country and hardly five per cent was generated from outside. He admitted that when the nuclear tests were conducted in India, the BJP government did not know about a 1994 US law, which left the Clinton administration with no choice but to impose sanctions.Dismissing fears about sanctions, he said the government had no plan to approach international funding agencies like IMF for fresh assistance. However, the impact on trade needed to be studied, he said. He described the results of the assemblyby-polls in the State as reversal of his party's performance in the last LS elections.
