The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday retained its forecast for India’s economic growth rate in 2018 and 2019. India’s gross domestic product – the value of all goods and services produced in a year – will grow at 7.4% in 2018 and 7.8% in 2019, the world body said in its “Regional Economic Outlook” report for Asia-Pacific.
The IMF had given similar numbers in October 2017 and January. In October, it had downgraded its forecast after India reported a string of declining numbers following the economic impact of demonetisation and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax.
India will remain the fastest growing economy among all 37 countries in the Asia-Pacific region in two years, Wednesday’s report showed. The economic growth forecast for China is 6.6% for 2018 and 6.4% the year after.
The IMF said India’s growth would “rebound...as the economy recovers from disruptions related to the currency exchange initiative [demonetisation] and the rollout of the new Goods and Services Tax”.
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