India to grow faster than China in 2018: IMF

In its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) update released today in Davos, Switzerland on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, the International Monetary Fund has projected a 7.8 per cent growth rate for India in 2019. 

Growth rate projections for both 2018 and 2019 remains unchanged since its October 2017 WEO projections. China, during the same period is expected to grow at 6.6 per cent and 6.4 per cent respectively, the IMF said. 

The IMF projected India to grow at 7.4 per cent in 2018 as against China’s 6.8 per cent. Emerging and developing Asia will grow at around 6.5 per cent 

over 2018–19, broadly the same pace as in 2017,” it said, adding that the region continues to account for over half of world growth. 

“Growth is expected to moderate gradually in China (though with a slight upward revision to the forecast for 2018 and 2019 relative to the fall forecasts, reflecting stronger external demand), pick up in India, and remain broadly stable in the ASEAN-5 region,” the IMF said. 

In the year gone by, China (6.8 per cent) was ahead of India (6.7 per cent), giving China the tag of being the fastest growing emerging economies. Notably, with a growth rate of 7.1 per cent, India was the fastest growing country among emerging economies in the year 2016. But due to the demonetisation in late 2016 and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), IndiaÂ’s economy slowed down a little bit to 6.7 per cent in 2016. In 2017, India’s growth rate dropped to 6.7 per cent.