India's growth rate projected to slow to 1.2% in 2020: UN report

14 May 2020 Evaluate

The UN has released ‘the World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2020’ report and in report slashed India's projected growth rate to 1.2 percent in 2020 and forecast that the global economy will contract sharply by 3.2 percent as the COVID-19 pandemic paralyses the world, sharply restricting economic activities, increasing uncertainties and unleashing a recession unseen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It said cumulatively, the world economy is expected to lose nearly $8.5 trillion in output in 2020 and 2021, nearly wiping out the cumulative output gains of the previous four years.

The report said that India's economic growth is forecast to slow to 1.2 percent in 2020, a further deterioration from the already slowed growth of 4.1 percent in 2019. India, which grew at 6.8 percent in fiscal year 2018, is forecast to recover slightly and clock a 5.5 percent growth rate in 2021. The national lockdown in India, for example, is expected to depress economic growth to just 1.2 percent, much lower than the already disappointing growth in 2019.

Besides, it said the 2020 growth outlook for South Asia has deteriorated sharply. In light of this, the projected growth of GDP has been revised downward from 5.1 percent to -0.6 percent for 2020 and from 5.3 percent to 4.4 percent next year. Densely populated and ill-equipped for a public health catastrophe, the region is extremely at risk. The report noted that the policymakers across the South Asian region have, sometimes reluctantly, adopted more and more restrictions on activity to avert this threat, but this comes at a heavy economic toll.

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