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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that it stands ready to strengthen its dialogue and scale-up its technical collaboration with India, observing that the human tragedy is a stark reminder that Covid -19 pandemic continues to be a grave threat globally. IMF’s Director of the communications department -- Gerry Rice said ‘Our great sympathies and support to the people of India, and what is happening there relative to the pandemic, to those who have lost their lives and are suffering as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.’ Rice added ‘We are following the events in India very closely. And we hope that the number of new infections will continue to decline.’

The IMF welcomes the announcements by several countries to provide immediate support to India, he said reiterating that a multilateral response is critical to overcome the pandemic in India and globally. ‘On the economic impact, India is an important economy globally. We will be revisiting our growth forecast for India and for the global economy in July,’ he said, adding that the IMF will update it in its July World Economic Outlook Update.

He said ‘for India, on the economy, it will be critical to continue with a coordinated policy response to fight the pandemic including through accelerating the vaccination campaign, providing fiscal resources to the health sector, and social support to the most vulnerable. We see these as the immediate policy priorities.’