The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its Trade and Development 2019 report has projected India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 6% for 2019 from 7.4% in 2018. It said slowdown in growth rate is attributed to a sharp fall to 5.8% in the first quarter of 2019. It said together with a projected deceleration in the rate of growth in 2019 for India, where below-target collections from the recently introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST) have combined with fiscal consolidation efforts to limit public spending, will further slow growth in the Asian region as a whole.
According to the report, the two economies that were among the fastest growing in the world, China and India, are showing signs of a loss of growth momentum. Besides, highlighting the risks of shadow banking, it said such institutions were fragile alternatives to public banks and development finance institutions, as the roles of the latter were reduced or done away with, as part of liberalisation.
UNCTAD also highlighted concerns over sustainable development goals (SDGs). It said these concerns were compounded by the dizzying rise in debt levels to a scale similar to those seen before the financial crisis. It suggested that meeting financing demands of SDGs required rebuilding multilateralism around the idea of a ‘Global Green New Deal’, and forging, by implication, a different collective financial future.
