Jump to content

India’s economic growth forecast was slashed further by the IMF, with the country now facing the biggest contraction of major emerging markets


tacobell fan

Recommended Posts

India’s economic growth forecast was slashed further by the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday, with the South Asian nation now facing the biggest contraction of major emerging markets in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Gross domestic product will shrink 10.3% in the fiscal year to March 2021, the Washington-based lender said in its World Economic Outlook, far worse than the 4.5% decline predicted in June. The 5.8 percentage-point downgrade was the biggest of the world’s main economies.

Severe Contraction

IMF sees more than 10% fall in India's economic output this year

Source: IMF

 

In the group of emerging economies “revisions to the forecast are particularly large for India, where GDP contracted much more severely than expected in the second quarter,” the IMF said in its report.

India’s lockdown at the end of March was the world’s largest, causing the economy to contract 23.9% in the June quarter from a year ago as businesses and jobs were devastated. Authorities have failed to get the pandemic under control since then, with the number of coronavirus cases exceeding 7 million, second only to the U.S.

In China, where the virus outbreak originated but is now under control, the recovery is strengthening, with the IMF predicting 1.9% growth this year, up from 1% forecast in June. “China’s return to growth, which was stronger than expected” helped to underpin an improvement in the IMF’s global outlook, the fund said.

For emerging and developing economies excluding China, prospects continue to remain dim, the IMF said.

“All emerging market and developing economy regions are expected to contract this year, including notably emerging Asia, where large economies, such as India and Indonesia, continue to try to bring the pandemic under control,” it said.

The IMF’s outlook for India is worse than the central bank’s prediction of a 9.5% decline in GDP in the current fiscal year. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday unveiled a set of measures to lift consumer spending after a previous package totaling 21 trillion rupees ($286 billion) failed to give an immediate boost to demand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The IMF predicted on Tuesday that the world economy will shrink by 4.4% in 2020, a less severe contraction than it forecast in June. The improvement is driven by a stronger than expected bounce in the United States and Europe after lockdowns lifted, as well as China's return to growth.
However, the organization downgraded its outlook for 2021. The IMF now sees a 5.2% increase in global output next year, down from 5.4% in its previous report. Last month, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development also lowered its forecast for 2021.
"The ascent out of this calamity is likely to be long, uneven, and highly uncertain," IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said in a blog post.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...