Indian economy experienced slowdown in 2019, but far from recession: IMF MD

01 Feb 2020 Evaluate

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director (MD) Kristalina Georgieva has said that the Indian economy experienced some abrupt slowdown in 2019 due to turbulence in non-banking financial institutions and major reform measures like GST and note ban, but the economy is not in a recession. She also said that India undertook some important reforms which would be beneficial for the country over the longer term, but they do have some short-term impact.

Georgieva said ‘we had to revise our growth projections, downwards to four percent for last year. We are expecting 5.8 percent (growth rate) in 2020 and then an upward trajectory to 6.5 percent in 2021.’ She also stated that there is not a lot of fiscal space in India. She said there is need to recognize that the policies of the government on that side, on the fiscal side have been prudent. In the medium-term, she said, ‘the IMF remains positive about India. This is why we see that upswing potential for the growth in the country. The current economic slowdown cannot be described as a recession. ‘No... You're far from that. But it is a significant slowdown, not the recession.’

IMF MD noted that the consumption in India also slowed down and that contributed to the overall slowdown in the economy. She said the IMF would be keen to see what India does to get relatively sound macroeconomic fundamentals to pay off in terms of better growth trajectory. She also said ‘one thing that is important for India is that budgetary revenue has been below target. The country knows that. The finance minister knows it. They need to increase budgetary revenue collection so they can improve their fiscal position. I said it's tight on the spending side, but I also want to stress that there is room to improve collection on the revenue side.’

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