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The Chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Branch, Economic Analysis and Policy Division, UN-Department of Economic and Social Affairs Hamid Rashid in the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2023 report has said India is a bright spot in the world economy currently and is on a strong footing, projected to grow at 6.7 per cent next year, a very high growth rate relative to other G20 member countries.

He stated this is a sustainable growth rate for India. India also has a significant number of people living in poverty. So this would be a great boost. If India can sustain this growth rate in the near term, that would be good for the Sustainable Development Goals, good for poverty reduction globally.

He attributed three factors to India’s current economic strength. He said India’s unemployment rate has come down significantly in the last four years to 6.4 per cent and is lower than what it was around 2017. That means the domestic demand has been pretty strong. India’s inflation pressure also has eased quite significantly and it is expected to be about 5.5 per cent this year and 5 per cent in 2024.

This means that the country’s central bank would not have to aggressively go for monetary tightening. The third factor benefitting India is that its import bills have been lower, especially energy import cost has been lower than in the previous years. That has also helped India’s growth prospect in 2022 and 2023.

The Group of Twenty (G20) comprises 19 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, United Kingdom and United States) and the European Union.