IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday said India is taking the lead from a position of “strength” to lead G20 countries and will leave its mark on the world in the years to come.
Speaking on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the US, Georgieva said, “India deserves to be called a bright spot on this otherwise dark horizon as it has been a rapidly growing economy even during these difficult times. At times, but most importantly, this development is based on structural reforms.”
Georgieva’s remarks assume significance as India will assume the presidency of the G20 for one year from December 1 this year. Under its chairmanship, India is expected to host over 200 G20 meetings across the country.
The IMF chief said that as India prepares itself to assume the presidency of the G20 from a position of “strength”, it is sure to leave a mark on the world.
Under the chairmanship of India, the G20 Leaders’ Summit at the level of Heads of State/Government is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on 9 and 10 September 2023.
The IMF chief is not the only person to praise India. The organisation’s chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gaurynchus also congratulated India for emerging as a “bright light” at a time when the world faces the imminent prospects of a recession.
Responding to a question on India’s ambitious target of becoming a USD 10 trillion economy, Gaurinchas told PTI that he certainly believes that it is achievable.
“I mean, we have seen that many countries have grown at a very fast rate in the past and have grown really fast. So, I think it certainly is, it is not an easy task now. But I think yes, there is definitely a huge potential for an economy like India,” he told PTI in an interview.
To do this, India needs to undertake several structural reforms, he said.
growth forecast
In its World Economic Outlook released 2 days ago, the IMF had projected a growth rate of 6.8% for India in 2022 as compared to 8.7% in 2021.
The IMF had in July projected a 7.4% growth in gross domestic product (GDP) for India in the fiscal year that began in April 2022. Even this forecast was lower than the 8.2 per cent projected in January this year.
However, despite the cut in growth projections, India is still the fastest growing of the major economies.
“India is one of the largest economies. So, when it’s actually growing at solid rates like 6.8 or 6.1, it’s really noticeable. In a picture where all other economies and advanced economies rarely grow at that pace, but other large countries don’t do as well in our projections into the current year or next year. So it’s definitely expanding,” Gaurynchus said.
Last week, the World Bank also lowered India’s growth forecast for FY13 to 6.5% from its earlier estimate of 7.5%, citing the impact of the ongoing war in Ukraine, rising global interest rates and high inflation. Had given.
IMF chief praises India’s structural reforms
Kristalina Georgieva, MD of the IMF, said, “Remarkable successes in digitization in India are key in structural reforms, to provide all services and support based on digital ID to digital access.” has been a big factor. ,” He added.
“And so, the country is now moving from a position of strength to the G20, which makes me strongly believe that we will see India in the world in the years to come during the next year’s presidency (G20K). But will leave an impression, Georgieva said.
And what could that mark be and in what areas he asked. “It could be the area of digitization including digital money. We know we need regulation of crypto, we know we need to focus some more on cross-border payments. We are proposing public investment in cross-border payments platform infrastructure,” she said.
“It may be in the area of bringing more fairness to our institutions. Next year we have to complete the 16th quarter review. India has been a very strong voice for the Fund to be financially sound and become a strong institution based on fair representation of our members,” she said.
“It could be in renewable energy. What’s not so famous, you know, India has really taken a leap in terms of solar and other forms of renewable energy. So, I’m very looking forward to next year and I’m sure That it will make the people of India, about 1.4 billion of them, feel very proud,” said the IMF Managing Director.
(with inputs from agencies)