New Delhi: Leaving for Italy to attend the Summit of G8 industrialised nations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the economic slowdown needed be dealt with by a concerted and well-coordinated global response addressing systemic failures and stimulating the real economy.

“The slowdown in the advanced economies has affected our exports, strengthened protectionist sentiments and impacted credit and capital flows. We would, therefore, like to see a concerted and well-coordinated global response to address systemic failures and to stimulate the real economy,” he said in a departure statement.

Singh said, “The global financial and economic slowdown that we are witnessing is particularly detrimental for the development objectives of developing countries such as India. This has not been a crisis of our making, but we have had to bear its consequences.”

The two-day G-8 Summit begins on 9 July. During his four-day stay in Italy, Singh will also attend a meeting of the leaders of the G5 group of ‘outreach´ countries comprising Brazil, China, Mexico and South Africa besides India.

The Prime Minister said, “In the longer run, we would like to see a much higher level of stability and sustainability in growth patterns of the developed world, and in international financial governance.”