The World Bank has come out to be bullish about India’s economic prospects, after projecting that the nation will clock a GDP growth of 7.3% in 2018. It has claimed that having an ambitious government undertaking comprehensive reforms means that India has enormous potential, as compared to other emerging economies.
The world bank has continued its positive projection till 2020 by claiming that the country will grow at about 7.5% in the next two years. This projection was announced by the world bank in its 2018 Global Economics Prospect.
This outlook comes after India suffered disappointment in 2017 by growing at about 6.7% as a result of measures like Demonetisation, and the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Ayhan Kose the Director of Development Prospects Group, World Bank claimed that rather than looking at the short term numbers, he would focus at the big picture which is telling him that India has enormous potential.
As per Kose, what also works in India’s favour is its demographic profile but India needs to improve the participation of its female labour force which still remains low as compared to other emerging economies. Plus reducing youth unemployment and pushing for private investment is critical.
This shot in the arm by World Bank comes in a series of validation which India has received from prominent foreign agencies.
Ratings agency Moody in November had upgraded Government of India’s local and foreign currency issuer ratings to Baa2 from Baa3 and changed the outlook on the rating to stable from positive. India’s short-term local currency rating was also upgraded from P-3 to P-2 by the ratings agency. With that, Moody had upgraded India’s rating for the first time since 2004.
Apart from that, we had reported in October how global financial luminaries had maintained a positive projection of India when various corners were signalling doom for the Indian economy.
These luminaries included, IMF chief Christine Lagarde, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, Global financial services firm Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered’s Regional CEO, ASEAN & South Asia and the European Commission.
