MUMBAI:
Indian economy will likely expand 6.8% in the current fiscal as public investment remains the primary growth driver, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday in its Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and Pacific. Krishna Srinivasan, Director of the Asia and Pacific Department at the IMF, stated, “In China and India, we expect investment to contribute disproportionately to growth much of it public, especially in India.”
Additionally, the IMF has raised its outlook for India’s FY24 growth to 7.8%, surpassing the government’s estimate of 7.6%. Growth in Asia and the Pacific surprised on the upside in the second half of 2023, reaching 5.0 per cent for the year as a whole significantly stronger than the outcome in 2022 (3.9 per cent), and 0.4 percentage points higher than projected in October 2023 Regional Economic Outlook: Asia and Pacific.
Emerging Asia accounted for the bulk of positive growth surprises, including in Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and, most notably, India, the Fund noted.
