India to Remain Fastest-growing Economy in 2019 & 2020, Says UN Report; Pegs GDP Growth at 7.6 per Cent in 2019-20

In the case of China, the growth is estimated to decelerate to 6.3 per cent in 2019 from 6.6 per cent in 2018. It may further go down to 6.2 per cent in 2020.

New Delhi: India will continue to remain the world’s fastest-growing large economy in 2019 as well as in 2020, said a UN report on Wednesday, further predicting the country’s GDP to grow at 7.6 per cent in the next fiscal.

According to the UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2019, India’s GDP growth is expected to accelerate to 7.6 per cent in 2019-20 from an estimated 7.4 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 2019. The growth rate may come down to 7.4 per cent a year later.

In the case of China, the growth is estimated to decelerate to 6.3 per cent in 2019 from 6.6 per cent in 2018. It may further go down to 6.2 per cent in 2020.

“Growth (in India) continues to be underpinned by robust private consumption, a more expansionary fiscal stance and benefits from previous reforms.

“Yet, a more robust and sustained recovery of private investment remains crucial to lift the medium-term growth,” WESP report said.

Referring to China, it said the growth is expected to moderate from 6.6 per cent in 2018 to 6.3 per cent in 2019, with policy support partly offsetting the negative impact of trade tensions.

The report further said the global economy would continue to grow at a steady pace of around 3 per cent in 2019 and 2020 amid signs that global growth has peaked.
However, a worrisome combination of development challenges could further undermine growth, it added.

The report also highlighted that global trade tensions pose a threat to the economic outlook.

Amid the rise in global trade tensions, world trade growth moderated over the course of 2018 to 3.8 per cent from growth of 5.3 per cent in 2017.

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Economic Outlook Update had estimated India’s to grow by 7.5 per cent in the 2019-20 fiscal and 7.7 per cent in 2020-2021. The report further asserted that India will continue to be the world’s fastest growing major economy.

Notably, the World Bank’s projections published earlier this month for India’s growth in the current and next fiscal years match those of the IMF, but is lower at 7.5 per cent for 2020-21.