The United Nations revised India's economic growth projection for 2024 to 6.9 per cent. This economic growth projection for India in the mid-year update is an upward revision from the 6.2% GDP forecast made by the UN in January this year.
The World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2024, released on Thursday, said, "India’s economy is forecast to expand by 6.9 per cent in 2024 and 6.6 per cent in 2025, mainly driven by strong public investment and resilient private consumption. Although subdued external demand will continue to weigh on merchandise export growth, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals exports are expected to expand strongly."
WESP January report:
The UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2024 report that was launched in January said that growth in India was projected to reach 6.2 per cent in 2024, amid robust domestic demand and strong growth in the manufacturing and services sectors. The projection in January for India’s GDP growth for 2025 remains unchanged at 6.6 per cent in the latest assessment of the economic situation.
The update said that consumer price inflation in India is projected to decelerate from 5.6 per cent in 2023 to 4.5 per cent in 2024, staying within the central bank’s two to six per cent medium-term target range.
Similarly, inflation rates in other South Asian countries declined in 2023 and are expected to decelerate further in 2024, ranging from 2.2 per cent in the Maldives to 33.6 per cent in Iran. Despite some moderation, food prices remained elevated in the first quarter of 2024, especially in Bangladesh and India.
In India, labour market indicators have also improved amid robust growth and higher labour force participation, it said.
World economy:
The world economy is now forecast to grow by 2.7 per cent in 2024 (an increase of 0.3 percentage points from the forecast in January) and 2.8 per cent in 2025 (an increase of 0.1 percentage points).
The upward revisions mainly reflect a better outlook in the United States, where the latest forecast points to 2.3 per cent growth in 2024 (an upward revision of 0.9 percentage points since January), and several large emerging economies, notably Brazil, India, and Russia.
It noted that several large developing economies – Indonesia, India, and Mexico – are benefiting from strong domestic and external demand. In comparison, many economies in Africa Latin America, and the Caribbean are on a low-growth trajectory, facing high inflation, elevated borrowing costs, persistent exchange rate pressures, and lingering political instability.
The possible intensification and spreading of conflicts in Gaza and the Red Sea add further uncertainties to the near-term outlook for the Middle East, the mid-year update said.
Global trade is expected to recover in 2024.
Higher-for-longer interest rates, debt sustainability challenges, continuing geopolitical tensions, and ever-worsening climate risks continue to pose challenges to growth, threatening decades of development gains, especially for least developed countries and small island developing states.
Follow us
