Washington : The reforms carried out by India has been bearing fruits and benefiting people, but more needs to be done for sustained growth, a top IMF official has said.
The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), despite a bumpy road, is going to help secure the solidity of foundation of public finances, David Lipton, the International Monetary Fund’s First Deputy Managing Director, said.
The recent steps taken to deal with the accumulated problems in banks are important ones, Lipton said, as he identified digital ID technology and other structural reforms important moves towards inclusive growth and making India an economic powerhouse.
“There’s certainly more to be done but India is certainly seeing benefits from what it has done,” he said on the sidelines of the Spring meeting of the IMF and the World Bank. India’s reforms have been bearing fruits and we see that in growth performance.
(India’s) growth last year was 6.7 per cent. We’re now projecting 7.4 this fiscal year and 7.8 the following (year). That’s a very healthy acceleration and it really means for a country that is huge, add up to an awful lot of economic activity.
“India’s goal is to have sustained growth and to have a growth that boosts the living standards very broadly across the population. The reforms that have been carried out so far have had benefits and make a very good case for carrying forward with further reforms,” Lipton said.
A country of India’s size has to be very careful to keep public finances under control because any interruption of economic activity that comes from fiscal difficulties would be a setback, he said.
