FM to attend World Bank-IMF annual meeting, drive investor outreach

May hold bilateral meetings with counterparts of other nations. There could also be a G-20 meeting on the sidelines, with focus on India's upcoming presidency of the multi-nation grouping

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will travel to the United States next week to participate in the World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMFs) annual meeting scheduled for October 10-16. The Finance Minister is expected to hold bilateral meetings with her counterparts of other nations, and there could also be a G-20 meeting on the sidelines, with focus on India’s upcoming presidency of the multi-nation grouping.

Apart from the IMF-World Bank meeting in Washington DC, the Finance Minister is also expected to have speaking engagements in a few thinktanks and educational institutes such as Brookings and Johns Hopkins University. She is then expected to head to Texas for some outreach meetings with investors on opportunities in India, though the plans are still being finalised.

As India emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic and has weathered the recent geopolitical headwinds while being on track to be the fastest growing major economy this year, officials who are helping prepare the outreach say there is a concentrated effort to continue pitching India as a stable, attractive, investment destination.

At the IMF-World Bank annual meeting, the issue that is expected to take centre stage is the ongoing war in Europe and its impact on the global economy. Several advanced European and North American economies are expected to go into recession. While India and other emerging economies will be spared one, global trade is certain to be impacted.

The IMF, in its last World Economic Outlook update, cut the global growth forecast for 2022 by 0.4 percentage points to 3.2 per cent, compared with 6.1 per cent in 2021.

“Several shocks have hit a world economy already weakened by the pandemic: higher-than-expected inflation worldwide––especially in the United States and major European economies––triggering tighter financial conditions; a worse-than-anticipated slowdown in China, reflecting COVID- 19 outbreaks and lockdowns; and further negative spillovers from the war in Ukraine,” the IMF had said.

After the G-20 Bali Summit in Indonesia, India will take over the chair from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023. The main G-20 Heads of State Summit will be held in New Delhi in September 2023, but there will be various track meetings held across the country.