Indian economy to shrink by 3.2% in current fiscal: World Bank

The World Bank has also said that the global economy is on track to shrink by 5.2% this year, the deepest recession since the Second World War.
Indian economy to shrink by 3.2% in current fiscal: World Bank
Indian economy to shrink by 3.2% in current fiscal: World Bank
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India's economy will shrink by 3.2% in the current fiscal, the World Bank said on Monday as it joined a chorus of international agencies that are forecasting a contraction in growth rate due to the coronavirus lockdown halting economic activity.

The Washington-based multilateral lender said that the COVID-19 pandemic and the multi-phased lockdown imposed to curb its spread has resulted in a devastating blow to the Indian economy.

In its latest edition of the Global Economic Prospect, the World Bank downgraded its projection of India by a massive negative nine per cent.

However, the Indian economy is expected to bounce back in 2021, the World Bank said.

"In India, growth is estimated to have slowed to 4.2% in the fiscal year 2019/20 (the year ending in March-2020) and output is projected to contract by 3.2% in fiscal year 2020/21, when the impact of COVID-19 will largely materialise.

"Stringent measures to restrict the spread of the virus, which heavily curtail short-term activity, will contribute to the contraction," it said in the Global Economic Prospect report.

International rating agencies like Moody's Investors Service, Fitch Rating and S&P Global Ratings have all predicted a 4-5% contraction in India's economic growth rate during April 2020 to March 2021 fiscal. Crisil has said this would be the country's fourth recession since Independence, first since liberalisation, and perhaps the worst to date.

The World Bank said spillovers from the weaker global growth and balance sheet stress in the financial sector will also weigh on activity, despite some support from the fiscal stimulus and continued monetary policy easing.

According to the report, the central bank has been purchasing government bonds to further ease the financial conditions. The Indian government has also increased its spending on healthcare to bolster the COVID-19 response, wage support, in-kind and cash transfers to lower-income households, deferral of tax payments, as well as loan and liquidity support for small businesses and financial institutions.

The growth rate of the Indian economy in fiscal 2017 was 7%, which dropped to 6.1% in fiscal 2018 and to 4.2% in fiscal 2020, it said.

The real impact of the COVID-19 and lockdown would be felt in the current fiscal (2020-21) beginning April, the bank said as it forecast a negative growth rate of 3.2%.

The World Bank revised its January projection on India by a massive negative nine% for the year 2020 and minus three% for the year 2021.

The contraction in the Indian economy will have a spillover impact in South Asia, according to the bank's projections.

Growth in the region is projected to register a contraction of -2.7% in 2020 and is marked by high uncertainty, the report said.

Across the region, the pandemic mitigation measures will severely hinder consumption and services activity, while high uncertainty about the pandemic will constrain private investment.

The sheer depth of global contractionary activity in the current environment will also weigh substantially on South Asian regional activity, despite relatively more modest trade linkages with the advanced economies than other EMDE (Emerging Market and Developing Economies) regions.

Despite the relatively low number of reported cases per capita, COVID-19 infections are still rising in several economies in the region. As a result, the outlook is highly uncertain and subject to large downside risks, the bank said.

The World Bank has also said that the global economy is on track to shrink by 5.2% this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the deepest recession since the Second World War.

In its latest Global Economic Prospects, it said that economic activity in advanced economies is anticipated to contract 7% in 2020 as domestic demand and supply, trade, and finance have been severely disrupted. The US economy is projected to shrink by 6.1% this year, while Euro Area could see a 9.1-per cent contraction, Xinhua news agency reported.

Emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), meanwhile, are expected to contract by 2.5% this year, "their first contraction as a group in at least sixty years," according to the report. The economic activity in Latin America and the Caribbean, in particular, could plunge by 7.2% in 2020.

Growth in East Asia and Pacific is projected to fall to 0.5 percent in 2020, the only region that could see growth this year, the report said. The Chinese economy is expected to grow by 1 percent this year.

The outlook for global economy is "highly uncertain and downside risks are predominant," including the possibility of a more protracted pandemic, financial upheaval, and retreat from global trade and supply linkages, the report noted.

With IANS inputs

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