Demonetisation caused temporary disruptions in India’s economy, mainly affecting private consumption and small businesses, but those effects are slowly disappearing, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.
“We see salutary benefits from the demonetisation that took place a year ago,” the organisation’s spokesperson William Murray told reporters on Thursday. “And there are potential benefits going forward.”
Murray said that in the medium-term, the policy could lead to greater formalisation of the economy and bring about “a more efficient payment system with a greater use of the banking system and digital payments”.
The organisation is scheduled to come out with an updated projection of India’s growth rate in January, PTI reported.
The government’s decision to demonetise high-value currency notes in November 2016 and problems related to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax this July were blamed for the recent economic slowdown. But, the Indian economy can grow at a rate of 7.2% in 2018 and 7.4% in 2019, the United Nations said in a report published on December 11.
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