World Bank projects 10 per cent GDP growth for India

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 31

The World Bank has forecast per 10 per cent GDP growth for the Indian economy in the next fiscal year that begins from Thursday.

This is a substantial upward revision of 4.7 % from January 2021 forecasts but the pandemic is not yet under control and the recovery remains fragile, calling for vigilance, said Hartwig Schafer, World Bank Vice-President for the South Asia Region.

The GDP of other South Asian nations is also expected to grow – Bangladesh by 3.6 %, Nepal’s by 2.7 % and Pakistan’s by 1.3 %, said the World Bank days ahead of its Spring Meeting that will shape up the policy responses of Bretton Woods institutions towards debt, climate, vaccines and economic recovery.

The World Bank, however, sounded a warning on two fronts –growth was not just uneven but it was also fragile.

As economic activity is well below pre-Covid-19 estimates, businesses need to make up for lost revenue and millions of workers, most of them in the informal sector, still reel from job losses and falling incomes, said the World Bank’s twice-a-year regional update.

The improved economic outlook reflects South Asian countries’ efforts to keep their Covid caseload under control and swiftly roll out vaccine campaigns, it noted.

But the pandemic laid bare South Asia’s deep-seated inequalities and vulnerabilities, said the report while recommending universal social insurance to protect informal workers.

South Asia, which grapples with high stunting rates among children and has over half of the world’s student dropouts due to Covid, needs to ramp up investments in human capital to help new generations grow up healthy and become productive workers.

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