BJP casts doubt over IMF projections, says India affected by global slowdown

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday cast doubt over International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowering India's economic growth forecast to 4.8 percent and rejected the claim in which it blamed India for the global slowdown.

The IMF on Monday lowered India's economic growth forecast to 4.8 percent for this fiscal year owing to the crisis in the non-banking financial sector and weak rural demand.

Talking to ANI, BJP spokesperson for economic affairs, Gopal Krishna Agarwal cast doubt on IMF projections and questioned whether they have taken into considerations the impact of Narendra Modi-led government's initiatives like NIP National Infrastructure Pipeline, the credit line for MSME and NBFC and mega exercise on Budget reform process, IBC and GST reforms.

"What IMF does is that they take past performance figures and then they project it. They do not take into account the initiatives of the government, " he said.

"GDP growth rate has bottomed out and we will see significant growth ahead," he added.

Agarwal rejected the IMF's claim that put lion's share of blame on India for lower global projections and said instead India was affected by global growth slowdown.

"India is affected by global growth slowdown and not the cause as IMF trying to narrate. It is protectionist policies being followed by counties like the US and Europe etc with regards to manufacturing and agricultural imports. Significant reasons are US and China trade war, US and Iran conflicts, and lopsided FTAs which the country has signed during the UPA regime," he claimed.

The IMF on Monday lowered India's economic growth forecast to 4.8 percent for this fiscal year owing to the crisis in the non-banking financial sector and weak rural demand. It also cut the world's growth estimate and blamed the slowdown in India for its move.