WASHINGTON:
Ahead of the next week's IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings, IMF chief Christine Lagarde on 10-APR-15 described India as "growth bright spot" and said New Delhi should focus on labour and product market reforms.
"Forecasts for most emerging and developing economies are slightly worse than last year...(but) India is a growth bright spot," she said at the Atlantic Council.
China is slowing, Brazil is stagnating, many parts of the Middle East are beset with political and economic turmoil and Russia is experiencing economic difficulties, she added.
Lagarde made these comments ahead of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings on April 17-19 here, which will be attended by Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, among others.
Referring to the reforms needed, the Managing Director of IMF said emerging market economies such as Indonesia and Russia can reap productivity gains by easing investment limits and improving the business climate.
Earlier in the day, global rating agency Moody's upgraded India's credit outlook to positive, while it peer Fitch talked about possibility of rating upgrade on improvement in fiscal position of the government.
"In other countries such as Brazil, India, and South Africa, the focus should be on reforms to education, labour, and product markets".
Fitch also raised India's GDP growth forecast for 2015-16 fiscal to 8 per cent as against RBI's estimate of 7.8 per cent.
On the global economy, the IMF chief said advanced economies are doing slightly better than last year.
"The recovery is firming up in the United States and the United Kingdom. Prospects in the Euro Area are improving, with the welcome support of the ECB's monetary easing," she said.
The IMF, she said, would release the 'World Economic Outlook' next week.
Source: ECONOMIC TIMES
The IMF, she said, would release the 'World Economic Outlook' next week.
Source: ECONOMIC TIMES
*About Christine Lagarde
- Born: January 1, 1956 (age 59), Paris, France
- To Know More: click here Wikipedia.
*Appointment in IMF
> On 25 May 2011, Lagarde announced her candidacy to be head of the IMF to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn upon his resignation. Her candidacy received the support of the British, Indian, United States, Brazilian, Russian, Chinese and German governments. The Governor of the Bank of Mexico (and former Mexican Secretary of Finance) AgustÃn Carstens was also nominated for the post. His candidacy was supported by many Latin American governments, as well as Spain, Canada and Australia.
> On 28 June 2011, the IMF board elected Lagarde as its next managing director and chairman for a five-year term, starting on 5 July 2011. The IMF's executive board praised both candidates as well-qualified, but decided on Lagarde by consensus. Lagarde became the first woman to be elected as the head of the IMF. Carstens would have been the first non-European. Her appointment came amid the intensification of the European sovereign debt crisis especially in Greece, with fears looming of loan defaults. The United States in particular supported her speedy appointment in light of the fragility of Europe's economic situation.
> U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that Lagarde's "exceptional talent and broad experience will provide invaluable leadership for this indispensable institution at a critical time for the global economy." Nicolas Sarkozy referred to Lagarde's appointment as "a victory for France." Oxfam, a charity working in developing nations, called the appointment process "farcical" and argued that what it saw as a lack of transparency hurt the IMF's credibility.
