Muristek
New Delhi, April 13
Citing the war in Ukraine, the World Bank has cut its growth estimate for India to 8 per cent from 8.7 per cent for the current fiscal year. It has forecast 7.1 per cent GDP growth in 2023-2024.
The Bank said the war in Ukraine will slow down South Asian countries' recovery from economic devastation caused by Covid pandemic but noted that the impact on India will be moderate.
The positive surprises are in the field of digital services with India very successful in producing the services and exporting them. The Bank has also suggested that India should expand its direct income support programme instead of subsidising food and other essential commodities.
In India, household consumption will be hit by the incomplete recovery of the labour market from the pandemic, inflationary pressures and worsening supply bottlenecks.
The World Bank, however, raised its growth forecast for Pakistan for the current year ending in June to 4.3 per cent from 3.4 per cent.
It also raised Sri Lanka's 2022 growth forecast to 2.4 per cent from 2.1 per cent a day after Sri Lanka's Central Bank said it had become "challenging and impossible" to repay external debt. It cut Maldives' growth forecast to 7.6 per cent from 11 per cent due to a fall in tourism arrivals from Russia and Ukraine.