(LiveMint)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday said India should address labour market rigidities to create more jobs and undertake financial sector reforms to improve governance in public sector banks to contain downside risks to its medium-term growth prospects.
In its biannual World Economic Outlook, IMF kept its GDP growth forecast for India unchanged at 7.4% for 2018-19 and 7.9% for 2019-20, holding that economic activity will be lifted by strong private consumption as well as fading transitory effects of demonetisation of high-value currencies and implementation of the national goods and services tax (GST). “Over the medium term, growth is expected to gradually rise with continued implementation of structural reforms that raise productivity and incentivise private investment,” it added. The Asian Development Bank and the World Bank have projected the Indian economy to grow at 7.3% in 2018-19.
