The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Monday, March 2, slashed India’s GDP growth forecast for the financial year 2020-21 to 5.1 per cent, amid concerns over the impact of the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 on the domestic and the global economy. Earlier, OECD had projected India’s growth rate to be at 6.2 per cent.
The OECD said that the virus might hurt confidence, financial markets, the travel sector and disruption to supply chains contribute to the downward revisions in all the G20 economies in 2020. India is also a part of G20, a group of developed and developing economies.
“Growth continued to be subdued in many emerging market economies, with GDP growth slowly easing in China and large non-performing loans and over-leveraged corporate balance sheets weighing on investment in India. An upturn will require a positive impact from reforms and monetary policy support in India and Brazil,” OECDsaidin its interim economic assessment.
According to the latest forecast, while India’s GDP growth is expected at 5.1 per cent during the fiscal year starting April 1, 2020, it is projected to improve to 5.6 per cent in the following year.
While the Economic Survey tabled by the government in Parliament before the Budget session had projected India’s growth at 6 – 6.5 per cent in the next fiscal year, the estimate by the National Statistical Office (NSO) is 5 per cent during 2019-20. For the year ending March 2020, the OECD has projected India’s GDP growth at 4.9 per cent.
Over 89,000 people across 58 countries have now been diagnosed with coronavirus, while the death toll globally has exceeded 3,100. In China, the death toll has reached 2,943, with over 80,000 confirmed cases. Outside China, South Korea has the maximum number of cases with over 4,800 people infected with the virus.
In the US, six people have died from the virus. On Monday, India reported two more positive cases of the virus in Delhi and Telangana, respectively.