NEW DELHI - INDIA'S premier said on Friday the poor should not pay for the 'profligacy' of rich nations as he vowed to use every fiscal and monetary tool to fend off the impact of the global financial crisis.

Mr Manmohan Singh said he believed Asia's third-largest economy can sustain an eight per cent growth rate after expanding by at least nine per cent for the past three years 'despite the adverse international environment'. 'We can and will survive this crisis and emerge stronger if we have the imagination and will to work together,' he told a conference in the Indian capital.

Mr Singh's Congress-party led government is anxious to ensure that the domestic economy stays on track with national elections due by May 2009.

But bad news has been mounting with car companies cutting output and layoffs in export-oriented sectors. The rupee has fallen to record lows as foreign investors pulled out in quest of safer havens.

Mr Singh said he was encouraged by last weekend's G20 summit of leaders of the world's biggest and emerging nations in Washington, called to bolster the global economy and which he attended.

'The voices of developing countries were heard with respect,' he said.

But the developed world had a responsibility to ensure that 'the burden (of the global meltdown) does not fall disproportionately on the weak,' he said.

'The crisis is not of our making but we are its worst victims,' he said, adding the global system of regulation needed revamping.

'We need a global safety net so that the poor should not pay for profligacy of the rich and the delinquency of a few,' he said.

'Global problems require global solutions,' he said, urging that international institutions 'be made more inclusive.' 'The voice of the developing world must be heard in the high councils of global decision-making,' he said.

He added the government wanted to send a 'message of hope and confidence' to Indian industry that it would use every fiscal, monetary, public investment and foreign exchange rate policy tool 'to tackle the crisis'.

'No instrument of public policy will be spared,' he said, amid widespread financial market expectations that another round of monetary policy easing by the central bank is imminent to spur the slowing economy.

Mr Singh said the government had successfully tackled the exchange rate crisis of 1991 'which was much more severe'. At the time, India's hard currency reserves sank so low they covered less than a month of imports and New Delhi was on the brink of defaulting on its foreign loans.

Then Congress prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao appointed Mr Singh finance minister and asked him to fix the problem. Mr Singh unleashed sweeping change, beginning the economic liberalisation that resulted in much higher growth.

The past few weeks have seen a stream of gloomy data about India's economy, suggesting growth could slow to seven per cent or lower this financial year and to around 5.5 per cent next year, according to economists.

Mr Singh acknowledged that 'much work remains to be done.' 'There are many uncertainties about depth of the (global) recession and its possible length - it will test everyone,' he said. -- AFP