India needs continued structural reforms to boost growth

The UN report conveyed the hope that mixing fiscal stimulus with changes in the financial sector would help boost consumption.

The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020 (WESP) survey also lowered India’s GDP growth forecast while expressing hope that mixing fiscal stimulus with changes to the financial sector would help boost demand.

Concerning a sharp economic slowdown from 6.8% in 2018 to 5.7% in 2019, India has committed to an ambitious fiscal expansion to complement the already loose monetary policy of the country.

The data relating to India, however, has been revised to 5 percent for the current fiscal year and 5.8-5.9 percent for the next financial year, said Nagesh Kumar, Head of the UN Economic and Social Commission

While presenting the report, he said the WESP GDP forecast did not take into account the latest growth figures released by the National Statistical Office of India (NSO).

The report, he said, was calculated in October 2019 and the advanced growth estimates of NSO were released in January 2020 suggesting that the growth of the country would slide to 5 percent during fiscal 2019-20.

According to the UN report

This year one out of five countries will see per capita income stagnating or decreasing, but listed India among a few countries where the per capita GDP growth rate could reach 4% in 2020. It also said that eradicating poverty will increasingly rely on tackling inequality going forward.

Prolonged weakness in global economic activity can cause significant setbacks to sustainable development, including targets for eradicating poverty and creating decent jobs for all. At the same time, systemic inequality and the worsening climate crisis in many parts of the world are fuelling growing discontent.

As the global economic balance shifts from the EU, the US and other developed countries to China, India and other developing countries, global economic decision-making control also shifts, it noted.“This changing dynamic will need to be understood by global partnership mechanisms thus allowing the under-represented to be noticed,” it said.

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