The International Monetary Fund’s growth projections for India in its latest World Economic Outlook Update released recently has reflected a strong rebound in the economy, which is estimated to have contracted by eight percent in 2020 due to the pandemic. The IMF has projected 11.5 percent growth rate for India in 2021. In the report, it says that India will be the only major economy of the world to register double-digit growth this year amidst the coronavirus pandemic. China is next with 8.1 percent growth in 2021 followed by Spain (5.9 percent) and France (5.5 percent).
Revising its figures, the IMF said that in 2020, the Indian economy is estimated to have contracted by eight percent. China is the only major country that registered a positive growth rate of 2.3 percent in 2020. India’s economy, the IMF said, is projected to grow by 6.8 percent in 2022 and that of China by 5.6 percent. With the latest projections, India regains the tag of the fastest developing economies of the world.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva had said that India has taken very decisive steps to deal with the pandemic. India, she said, went for a very dramatic lockdown for a country of this size of the population with people clustered so closely together. And then India moved to more targeted restrictions and lockdowns. Commending the steps being taken by the Indian government on the monetary policy and the fiscal policy side, she said it is actually slightly above the average for emerging markets.
