India needs another fiscal stimulus in view of COVID-19 pandemic: IMF

11 Sep 2020 Evaluate

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that there is a need for another stimulus in India, especially expenditures on health, food and income support for vulnerable households, and support for businesses. Gerry Rice, Director of Communications Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said that the Washington-based global financial institution supports the Indian government's responses to the pandemic including fiscal stimulus with a focus on low income workers and households.

He said ‘We support the monetary easing and liquidity and regulatory measures for the financial sector and borrowers that have taken place’. On the massive contraction that the Indian economy has experienced in the latest quarter due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said ‘We believe further fiscal stimulus is warranted, especially expenditures on health, food and income support for vulnerable households, and support for businesses’. He added that in the short term, a detailed well communicated and credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plan is also important, alongside an increase in fiscal transparency.

Noting that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic is significant in India on development, and on poverty, Rice said that given the unprecedented shock, the immediate priority needs to be a coordinated policy response to fight the virus. After the US, India has the second largest number of people who have been infected by coronavirus with more than 4.2 million positive cases. The US has the largest number with 6.4 million cases and 193,250 deaths. Over 70,000 Indians have died due to coronavirus, as it has had an unprecedented impact on the India economy.

He said in its last World Economic Outlook Update, the IMF projected India’s growth at minus 4.5 per cent and six per cent for fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22 respectively. He also said that ‘the near-term growth outlook continues to be clouded by the global and domestic slowdown and uncertainties from the pandemic with significant downside risks. Of course, this is true, not just for India but for most countries, and added that the IMF would be revising India's growth projections during the next World Economic Outlook release on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the IMF in October.

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