India remains on growth track, though World Bank cuts global forecast to 2.4%
India will grow at 7.6% to 7.7% over the next three fiscals, the agency said, down three percentage points from its last prediction.
The World Bank on Tuesday warned that the global economy was looking at a major slowdown, with both emerging and advanced countries facing economic setbacks. According to the bank’s latest projection, the global economy’s growth rate is struggling at 2.4%. However, it said India “will continue to grow faster than its large emerging market peers, with growth rates of 7.6% to 7.7%” for the next three financial years.
Despite the steady view on India, the bank’s growth forecast for the country was brought down by three percentage points – in January the agency had put out a figure of 7.9%. India’s growth rate in 2015-16 was 7.6%, two percentage points lower than the bank’s prediction at the time, Business Standard reported. The bank’s report said India was weathering the global storm thanks to a boost in its manufacturing sector and the rise of e-commerce and financial services start-ups. The bank also credited India with increased public investments, low inflation and an increase in wages.
On the global scenario, the bank said several risk factors were threatening the world economy. This included a price collapse in metals, weakening currencies and higher borrowing costs.