GENEVA: The Indian economy, severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, is projected to contract by a massive 10.3 per cent this year, the International Monetary Fund said recently.
However, India is likely to bounce back with an impressive 8.8 per cent growth r ate in 2021, thus regaining the position of the fastest growing emerging economy, surpassing China’s projected growth rate of 8.2 per cent, the IMF said in its latest ‘World Economic Outlook’ report.
Released ahead of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, the report said global growth would contract by 4.4 per cent this year and bounce back to 5.2 per cent in 2021.
America’s economy is projected to contract by 5.8 per cent in 2020 and grow by 3.9 per cent the next year, the IMF said.
China is the only country, among the major economies, to show a positive growth rate of 1.9 per cent in 2020, it said.
The IMF in its report said that revisions to the forecast are particularly large for India, where Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted much more severely than expected in the second quarter.
“As a result, the economy is projected to contract by 10.3 per cent in 2020, before rebounding by 8.8 per cent in 2021,” it said.
In 2019, India’s growth rate was 4.2 per cent.
According to the IMF, India is among those likely to suffer the greatest damage from global warming, reflecting its initially high temperatures. For India, the net gains from climate change mitigation-relative to inaction-would be up to 60-80 per cent of GDP by 2100.
