The International Monetary Fund on Monday reaffirmed that India's economy is projected to grow by 7.4 per cent in the next fiscal year, regaining the rank of the world's fastest growing large economy.
The Fund's World Economic Outlook Update released in Davos gave a rosier estimate for the current year than the Indian government's. It estimated the Indian gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 6.7 per cent 2017-18, compared to the 6.5 per cent figure given by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Saying it expected a "pick up in India", the update stood by all the projections it made last October. It projected a growth of 7.8 per cent in 2019-20.
China, which is 2017 growth champion with a growth rate of 6.8 per cent, is expected to slow down to 6.6 per cent in this year and 6.4 per cent next year.
The IMF estimates for India are slightly better than the World Bank's estimate of 7.3 per cent for the next fiscal year made earlier this month.
The IMF update saw an improvement in the global economy still working its way way out of the remnants of the financial crisis. "Global economic activity continues to firm up" and the overall "output is estimated to have grown by 3.7 per cent in 2017, which is 0.1 percentage point faster than projected in the fall and 0.5 per cent higher than in 2016".
Global growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019 have been revised upward by 0.2 percentage point to 3.9 per cent, the update said. It attributed the uptick to increased global growth momentum and the expected impact of the recent tax policy changes in the US.
It said the growth pickup "has been broad based, with notable upside surprises in Europe and Asia."
–IANS
