IMF lowers India's 2022 growth forecast to 7.4%

Washington: Along with lowering the growth forecast for the global economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday slashed its annual growth projection for India by 0.8 percentage points to 7.4 per cent for 2022 and forecast "increasingly gloomy developments" for the global economy such as high inflation, downturn in China because of Covid. and spillovers from the war in Ukraine.

The IMF lowered its growth forecasts for the world economy for the next 18 months after warning that the world's three biggest economies are all stalling. Thus the growth forecast for the world economy was cut to 3.2 per cent for 2022 and 2.9 per cent in 2023, down from April estimates of 3.6 per cent for both years.

The IMF projected a rather grim outlook for the world at large, saying it was facing "increasingly gloomy developments in 2022 as risks (that it had warned in April) began to materialise".

The fund cut its 2023 projection for India also by 0.8 percentage points to 6.1 per cent. These revised forecasts are relative to those in the fund's April world outlook report.

The 2022 cut for India "reflects mainly less favorable external conditions and more rapid policy tightening", said the fund's World Economic Outlook Update, titled "Gloomy and More Uncertain".

The World Bank has also slashed its projections for India to 7.5 per cent from 8 per cent for 2022-23, blaming it on a surge in Covid-19 cases, related mobility restrictions and the war in Ukraine.

The IMF forecast for India was called "rational" by an official who spoke on background.

"Given the gloomy global outlook and inflation contagion, IMF's growth forecast for India moderating it down by 0.8 percentage point is rational. Indian economy seems to be far more resilient at this point in time as others like US and China are talking a bigger hit with the forecast cut down to 1.4 and 1.1 percentage points respectively," the official said.

"Further, IMF continues to project India's growth rate in 2022 as the fastest growing major economy with 7.4 per cent and the only other country around this rate is Saudi Arabia with 7.6 per cent. Nearest to this ASEAN-5 at 5.3 per cent while China is way down to 3.3 per cent."

The factors that affected global economic outlok are: higher inflation worldwide, specially in the US and major European economies, triggering a sharp tightening in global financial conditions; a sharper-than anticipated slowdown in China, reflecting Covid-19 outbreaks and lockdowns; and further negative cross-border effects from the war in Ukraine.

(Based on IANS feed)