New Delhi: India will take up to 13 years to fully recover from the scars of COVID-19 pandemic, reckons the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The country’s central bank and the regulatory body for banking system said in its latest report that India was one of the worst-hit nations during the global coronavirus pandemic.
“Indi
a suffered among the biggest pandemic induced losses in the world in terms of output, lives and livelihoods, which may take years to recover. Economic activity has barely recovered to pre-COVID levels even after two years,” said the report on Currency and Finance 2021-22 titled ‘Revive & Construct’.
“Taking the actual growth rate of -6.6 per cent for 2020-21, 8.9 per cent for 2021-22 and assuming growth rate of 7.2 per cent for 2022-23, and 7.5 per cent beyond that, India is expected to overcome COVID-19 losses in 2034-35,” the report observed.
The report added that the COVID pandemic is a watershed moment and the ongoing structural changes catalysed by the pandemic can potentially alter the growth trajectory in the medium term.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has also dampened the momentum of recovery, with its impact transmitting through record high commodity prices, weaker global growth outlook and tighter global financial conditions, RBI stated.