Focusing on protecting people, health of population remain a priority for India: IMF

India's priorities should be to protect most vulnerable people, well targeted support and protecting small and medium sized enterprises so that y do t collapse as country battles COVID-19 pandemic, Managing Director of International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva has said. Speaking at a news conference here during ongoing annual meeting of IMF and World Bank, Georgieva said on Wednesday that focusing on protecting people and on health of population remain a priority for India.

"What needs to be done? … Well, clearly protecting most vulnerable people, well-targeted support, protecting small and medium sized enterprises/firms so y do t collapse, and using what government is w aiming to do, a furr injection of support in a way that gives a better chance to turn a corner," Georgieva said.

"Like everywhere else, until we have a durable exit from health crisis, we will be faced with difficulties, uncertainty, and uneven recovery," she said.

Describing COVID-19 as a human crisis everywhere, and especially in countries where loss of life has climbed up so much, she said in India, 100,000 people h died. "refore, focusing on protecting people and on health of population remains a priority," she said.

"India has taken measures within capacity of country, two per cent fiscal measures, plus four per cent in forms of guarantees, t direct fiscal measures,” Georgieva said.

"This helps, but if you compare what vanced ecomies have been able to do, what some of or emerging markets with very strong fundamentals could do, clearly is somewhat constrained. What we see in India is a very dramatic shrink of GDP this year by over 10 per cent, according to our just released forecast," she said.

Georgieva said that India h a vibrant ecomy. "Let's remember that it stepped into this crisis as one of fastest growing ecomies in world. For next year, our projections in baseline scenario is return to growth of 8.8 per cent,” she said. A day earlier, IMF in its annual World Ecomic Report said that forecast are particularly large for India, where Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted much more severely than expected in second quarter.

"As a result, ecomy is projected to contract by 10.3 per cent in 2020, before rebounding by 8.8 per cent in 2021," it said.

In 2019, India’s growth rate was 4.2 per cent.L Last week, World bank said India's GDP this fiscal is expected to contract by 9.6 per cent. "India’s GDP is expected to contract 9.6 per cent in fiscal year that started in March," World Bank said in its latest issue of South Asia Ecomic Focus report. 

(Im Credits: AP)