NEW DELHI: The government on Friday announced a plan to check “non-essential imports” , boost exports and initiated five measures to attract dollar inflows into the country to trim the widening current account deficit that is seen as a factor behind the rupee’s sharp slide against the dollar.Prime Minister Narendra Modi sat down with finance minister Arun Jaitley , RBI governor Urjit Patel and several top policy-makers to take stock of the economic situation. The meeting, which lasted over two hours, concluded that the pressure on rupee and the current account may not be a short-term phenomenon. That’s because of rising interest rates in the US, high crude oil prices and its impact on emerging markets and the trade war between the US and China.“We felt that there is a need to control the current account deficit and bring more dollars into the country. We have to meet the challenge,” Jaitley said after the meeting. Current account deficit is the difference between exports and imports as well as foreign exchange flows such as remittances and investment. The rupee, which closed at 71.84 against the dollar , has lost 12% against the US currency since January, making it Asia’s worst-performing currency.While more steps are in the offing with further deliberations planned over the weekend, economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said the five concrete steps announced on Friday would help increase inflows by $8-10 billion.Jaitley said the list of non-essential imports will be prepared in consultation with other ministries. Sources said RBI is also expected to announce more steps in the coming days.Garg said that Friday’s deliberations did not include oil, which is the other key pressure point for the economy.“From the finance ministry side we are taking all steps to meet the fiscal deficit target for the current year and we will maintain the target,” the minister said.The PM convened the meeting against the backdrop of the rupee being battered over the past few weeks as well as growing anger over rising petrol and diesel prices. The FM said the RBI governor and the economic affairs secretary had made several suggestions in the meeting and hinted at more measures being unveiled in the days ahead.The choppy financial markets are also bracing for an interest rate hike. Economists say there could be an out-of-turn increase in interest rate to tame the rupee. The expectation of a “package” from the government had helped the rupee and stock markets script a significant recovery in the last few days.