Nirmala Sitharaman's prediction for India's economy as IMF cuts global growth

Nirmala Sitharaman said growth will be among the top priorities of the Narendra Modi government and attention will be paid to sustaining the momentum that the Indian economy has got coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is in the US to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, on Tuesday forecasted India's growth rate to be around 7 per cent this financial year.

Sitharaman said growth will be among the top priorities of the Narendra Modi government and attention will be paid to sustaining the momentum that the Indian economy has got coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Her statement comes even as the IMF, in its latest projection, predicted India's GDP growth to be 6.8 per cent down from a January projection of 8.2 per cent and in July estimate of 7.4 per cent. 

However, despite the slowdown, India would remain the fastest-growing major economy.

The IMF said on Tuesday global growth is expected to slow further next year, downgrading its forecasts as countries grapple with the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, spiraling cost-of-living and economic downturns.

The world economy has been dealt multiple blows, with the war in Ukraine driving up food and energy prices following the coronavirus outbreak, while soaring costs and rising interest rates threaten to reverberate around the globe.