Mumbai: United States today (Apr 21, 2004) said it had about USD 57 billion surplus in its services account and the issue of jobs being outsourced to other countries was being played up by politicians.

"United States had about USD 57 billion in its services account which means that the country was still an exporter of services to the rest of the world and the number of jobs being outsourced is very small in the economy which creates and destroys millions of jobs every year," US Ambassador David Mulford said at a FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) meeting in Mumbai.

Describing outsourcing as a hard political issue, he said it was not a problem between India and US but a global phenomenon tied with globalisation. "The issue is being demagogued by politicians," he added.

Seeking to allay fears that there was a government policy against outsourcing, Mulford said there was no legislation in the US that threatened outsourcing in a concrete way.

Stating that strategic partnership between the two countries should become a comprehensive relationship, he said US wanted to work with Indian partners to channel resources to medium and micro enterprises and to infrastructure and agriculture projects.

Despite growth in exports in 2003, India was losing ground in the global market place and no longer figured among the top 30 exporting countries after being replaced by United Arab Emirates, which has about USD 58 billion in exports.