Global eco to record positive growth in second half: Montek

The world economy is on the path of recovery and will record positive growth in the second half of 2009, even though it suffered a major crisis following the collapse of investment banker Lehman Brothers a year ago, said Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

"I think that the world economy would improve but how much, we cannot say...There would be positive growth in the second half of this year," he said when asked about the prospects of the global economy on the first anniversary of Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy that triggered global financial meltdown.

According to IMF estimates, which came out in July, the world economy is likely to contract by 1.4 per cent in 2009.

As regards India, he said, "We did not face any dropping of growth, our growth slowed down...(though) there was a lot of dipping in the world's growth in the first half."

Pointing out that growth will suffer in the second quarter ending September on account of drought and partly due to lag effect of the global crisis, Ahluwalia said adding that "there would be improvement in the second half."

India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth during 2008-09 slipped to 6.7 per cent from nine per cent on account of the impact of the global financial crisis. In the first quarter of this fiscal, the economy expanded by 6.1 per cent.

While the Planning Commission has projected a growth rate of 6.3 per cent in 2009-10, the Delhi-based economic think tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) expects the economy to grow by 7.2 per cent.