IMF Chief Praises India For ‘Very Decisive Steps’ During COVID-19

Washington: IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva had a lot of praise for India for taking “very decisive” in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and its economic consequences. She also asked India to do more this year to support an accelerated economic transformation.

The IMF chief predicted that India would be better placed in the upcoming World Economic Update due to the measures taken by it.

“When I called on everybody to stay tuned for January 26, that applies very much to India. You would see a picture in our update that is less bad. Why? Because the country actually has taken very decisive action, very decisive steps to deal with the pandemic and to deal with the economic consequences of it,” Georgieva was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The World Economic Update is expected to be released by the International Monetary Fund on January 26.

“Then India moved to more targeted restrictions and lockdowns. What we see is that that transition, combined with policy support, seems to have worked well. Why? Because if you look at mobility indicators, we are almost where we were before COVID in India, meaning that economic activities have been revitalised quite significantly,” the IMF chief said.

“What the government has done on the monetary policy and the fiscal policy side is commendable. It is actually slightly above the average for emerging markets. Emerging markets on average have provided six per cent of the GDP. In India, this is slightly above that. Good for India is that there is still space to do more~CHECK~.. If you can do more, please do,” Georgieva said.

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