WASHINGTON: The IMF today lowered India’s growth projection to 6.7 per cent in 2017, 0.5 percentage points less than its previous two forecasts in April and July, attributing it to demonetisation and introduction of the GST.
It also lowered the country’s growth for 2018 to 7.4 per cent, 0.3 percentage points less than its previous two projections in July and April.
India’s growth rate in 2016 was 7.1 per cent, which saw an upward revision of 0.3 percentage points from its April report.
“In India, growth momentum slowed, reflecting the lingering impact of the authorities’ currency exchange initiative as well as uncertainty related to the midyear introduction of the country-wide Goods and Services Tax,” the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook report.
“Strong Government spending and data revisions in India led to an upward revision of 2016 growth to 7.1 per cent (6.8 per cent in April), with upward revisions of about 0.2 percentage point, on average, for 2014 and 2015,” it said.
The latest report, released ahead of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank here this week, puts China slightly ahead of India in terms of growth rate for the year 2017. (AGENCIES)
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