NEW DELHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday slashed India’s economic growth forecast for financial year 2021-22 to 9 per cent on concerns over impact of new Covid variant.
In the previous issue of its World Economic Outlook that was published in October 2021, IMF had estimated India’s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 9.5 per cent for the current fiscal year.
For the next fiscal year 2022-23, IMF projects Indian economy to grow at 7.1 per cent.
IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said that the slight downgrade is mainly due to the impact of the spread of the Omicron variant.
“If you look at the 2021-22 fiscal year, we have a slight downgrade of -0.5 percentage points and for the next fiscal year 2022-23 we have a slight upgrade of 0.5 percentage points. So, growth for the previous fiscal year is now nine per cent and for this year now is at nine per cent. We moved it up slightly,” Gopinath told reporters during a news conference.
According to the IMF, India’s prospects for 2023 are marked up on expected improvements to credit growth and, investment and consumption, building on better-than-anticipated performance of the financial sector.
According to the first advanced estimates of GDP released few weeks back, the government projected India’s GDP to grow by 9.2 per cent for FY22.
Besides, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had projected 9.5 per cent GDP growth for the same period.
Global growth is also expected to moderate from 5.9 per cent in 2021 to 4.4 per cent in 2022, half a percentage point lower for 2022 than in the October WEO, largely reflecting forecast markdowns in the two largest economies — the US and China.
The IMF slashed the growth forecast for the United States – the world’s largest economy – to 4 per cent from the 5.2 per cent it predicted in October.
The Chinese economy is forecast to grow 4.8 per cent this year – down from 8.1 per cent last year and 0.8 percentage points slower than the IMF expected in October.
(With inputs from agencies)
In the previous issue of its World Economic Outlook that was published in October 2021, IMF had estimated India’s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 9.5 per cent for the current fiscal year.
For the next fiscal year 2022-23, IMF projects Indian economy to grow at 7.1 per cent.
IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said that the slight downgrade is mainly due to the impact of the spread of the Omicron variant.
“If you look at the 2021-22 fiscal year, we have a slight downgrade of -0.5 percentage points and for the next fiscal year 2022-23 we have a slight upgrade of 0.5 percentage points. So, growth for the previous fiscal year is now nine per cent and for this year now is at nine per cent. We moved it up slightly,” Gopinath told reporters during a news conference.
According to the IMF, India’s prospects for 2023 are marked up on expected improvements to credit growth and, investment and consumption, building on better-than-anticipated performance of the financial sector.
According to the first advanced estimates of GDP released few weeks back, the government projected India’s GDP to grow by 9.2 per cent for FY22.
Besides, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had projected 9.5 per cent GDP growth for the same period.
Global growth is also expected to moderate from 5.9 per cent in 2021 to 4.4 per cent in 2022, half a percentage point lower for 2022 than in the October WEO, largely reflecting forecast markdowns in the two largest economies — the US and China.
The IMF slashed the growth forecast for the United States – the world’s largest economy – to 4 per cent from the 5.2 per cent it predicted in October.
The Chinese economy is forecast to grow 4.8 per cent this year – down from 8.1 per cent last year and 0.8 percentage points slower than the IMF expected in October.
(With inputs from agencies)
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