World Bank ups growth for this fiscal to 6.9 per cent

-The Telegraph

This is the first upgrade of India’s growth forecast by any international agency amid global turmoil

India’s economy is expected to grow 6.9 per cent in the current fiscal year, the World Bank said in a report on Tuesday, citing tightening monetary policy and high commodity prices as factors impacting the country’s growth.

The Bank had trimmed its growth forecast for India to 6.5 per cent in early October from a June forecast of 7.5 per cent. This marks the first agency to revise India’s growth forecast upward.

It, however, cut FY24 growth to 6.6 per cent from 7 per cent earlier. The report also sees average retail inflation at 7.1 per cent this year.

In its India Development Update, the bank said the revision was because of higher resilience of the economy to global shocks and better than expected second-quarter numbers by India Inc..

India’s economy grew at 6.3 per cent in the September quarter 2022-23 compared with 13.5 per cent in the preceding June quarter, mainly on account of contraction in output of the manufacturing and mining sectors.

This is the first upgrade of India’s growth forecast by any international agency amid the global turmoil.

“India’s economy has been remarkably resilient to the deteriorating external environment, and strong macroeconomic fundamentals have placed it in good stead compared to other emerging market economies,” World Bank’s country director in India Auguste Tano Kouame told reporters here.

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