Global Slowdown’s Effect ‘More Pronounced’ in India, Says IMF Chief

With the global economy in the grips of a “synchronized global slowdown” — that will result in slower growth for 90% of the world this year — the effect will be more pronounced in some of the largest emerging economies like India, the new head of the 189-nation International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that an updated IMF forecast to be released next week will show growth falling to its lowest point since the beginning of this decade. She blamed much of the slowdown on rising trade conflicts which she said could mean a loss of around $700 billion in output by the end of next year — 0.8% of world GDP.

“Everyone loses in a trade war,” she said in remarks urging all nations to pull back from the escalating trade wars such as the fight between the United States and China, the world’s two biggest economies.

Trade battles are not only harming the global economy, Georgieva said, but they could have a long-lasting impact – especially for newly emerging market economies such as India and Brazil. “In the United States and Germany, unemployment is at historic lows. Yet across advanced economies, including in the US, Japan, and especially the Euro area, there is a softening of economic activity. In some of the largest emerging market economies, such as India and Brazil, the slowdown is even more pronounced this year,” she said.

The RBI in its Monetary Policy Report, October 2019, has also said that a combination of domestic and global headwinds has depressed economic activity in the country “especially in terms of aggregate demand”. The near-term outlook of the Indian economy is fraught with several risks, said the report.

It said that private consumption, which is the major support of economic activity, has started to slow down due to several reasons.