IMF says India set to regain status as fastest growing economy in 2018-19

The Indian economy will grow faster than that of China at 7.4 % in 2018-19 and 7.8 per cent in 2019-20, says IMF’s World Economic Outlook

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday reaffirmed that the Indian economy is projected to grow by 7.4% in the next fiscal year, regaining the rank of the world’s fastest growing large economy.

IMF said the the Indian economy is projected to grow by 7.4 per cent in the next fiscal year. (AFP File Photo)

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% 2017-18, compared to the 6.5% 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% 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% in this year and 6.4% next year.

The IMF estimates for India are slightly better than the World Bank’s estimate of 7.3% 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% in 2017, which is 0.1 percentage point faster than projected in the fall and 0.5% higher than in 2016”.

Global growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019 have been revised upward by 0.2 percentage point to 3.9%, 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”.