India will regain rank as fastest growing economy in 2018-19: IMF

The International Monetary Fund on Monday reaffirmed that India's economy is projected to grow by 7.4 percent in the next fiscal year, regaining the rank of the world's fastest growing large economy.

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 percent 2017-18, compared to the 6.5 percent 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 percent in 2019-20.

China, which is 2017 growth champion with a growth rate of 6.8 percent, is expected to slow down to 6.6 percent in this year and 6.4 percent next year.

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

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

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)a

--IANS

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