UN cuts India GDP growth forecast to 6.4% in 2022
The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) report has said that as the Ukraine conflict impacts the global GDP, India is projected to grow by 6.4 percent in 2022, well below the 8.8% growth in 2021, but still the fastest-growing major economy, with higher inflationary pressures and uneven recovery of the labor market curbing private consumption and investment. For the fiscal year 2023, India's growth is forecast to be 6 percent.
According to the report, the war in Ukraine has upended the fragile economic recovery from the pandemic, triggering a devastating humanitarian crisis in Europe, increasing food and commodity prices and globally exacerbating inflationary pressures. Besides, it said that higher prices and shortages of farming inputs including fertilizers are likely to persist in the region, negatively impacting the agricultural sector in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. This will probably result in weaker harvests and exert further upward pressures on food prices in the near term.
The report further said that along with higher energy prices, elevated prices of food will likely increase food insecurity across the region. Consumer price inflation in the region is expected to accelerate to 9.5 percent in 2022, from 8.9 percent in 2021. It also said that tighter external financial conditions will adversely affect regional growth prospects, especially for countries with high exposure to global capital markets facing debt distress or risks of debt default.
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