Global Economic Slowdown 'More Pronounced' In India: International Monetary Fund Chief

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief on Tuesday, October 8, said countries like India and Brazil would grow at a slower pace as the global economy is witnessing a “synchronised slowdown”.

Kristalina Georgieva, the newly appointed IMF chief in her maiden speech noted that 90 per cent of the world economies are experiencing a slowdown this year and the impact will be more pronounced in some of the emerging markets like Brazil and India.

The world economies will be closely watching the joint Annual Meeting between the IMF and the World Bank, which is just one week ahead after Georgieva assessment.

The IMF chief said trade tensions had “substantially weakened” manufacturing and investment activities worldwide. “There is a serious risk that services and consumption could soon be affected,” she said adding that India’s economic growth has already been a talking point for while now and has seen a decline in growth rate nearing 5 per cent in the June quarter, the lowest over six years.

The IMF had cut its projection for India’s economic growth by 0.3 percentage points to 7 per cent for the fiscal year 2019-20 owing to the “weaker-than-expected outlook” for the domestic demand.

Though there is deceleration, close to 40 emerging and developing economies have a positive forecast to have real GDP growth rates above 5 per cent – including 19 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, she said. While in the US and Germany, though employment rates have fallen, there is softening of the economic activities, she further stated.

Kristalina Georgieva took over leadership at the IMF from Christine Lagarde who has been appointed as the president of the European Central Bank, said that currencies are once again in the limelight and disputes now extend between multiple countries and into other critical issues.

Adding to the economic crisis is the rising trade wars between the countries, the chief said “Everyone loses in a trade war” and called for nations to work together instead of putting each other in jeopardy. She brought a positive approach saying that this is the right time for countries with room in their budgets to implement some of the fiscal fire.

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