India’s GDP growth of 6.7% to be fastest in world in 2022: UNCTAD

India’s economy is projected to grow at 6.7% in 2022, the fastest in world during the year, followed by China at 5.7%, according to a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Trade and Development Report 2021.

However, China’s 8.3% GDP growth in 2021 will be more than India’s 7.2% growth in 2021, it added. The global economy will grow at its fastest pace in almost half a century with 5.3% increase.

Global growth is expected to hit 5.3 per cent this year, the fastest in almost half a century, with some countries restoring (or even surpassing) their output level of 2019 by the end of 2021. The global picture beyond 2021, however, remains shrouded in uncertainty.

UNCTAD, however, wanted that next year will see a deceleration in global growth but for how long and by how much will depend on policy decisions, particularly in the leading economies.

“Even assuming no further shocks, a return to the pre-pandemic income trend could, under reasonable assumptions, still take until 2030 – a trend that, it should be remembered, itself reflected the weakest growth rate since the end of the Second World War. This is a worrying prospect for many countries. The damage from the Covid-19 crisis has exceeded that from the global financial crisis (GFC) in most parts of the global economy but has been particularly draining on the developing world. The recent decision by the IMF Executive Board to allow a $650 billion issue of special drawing rights (SDRs), the largest in its history, offers a glimmer of hope but the international community has still to acknowledge the scale of the challenge facing many developing countries,” it added.

After a 3.5 per cent fall in 2020, UNCTAD expects world output to grow 5.3 per cent this year, partially recovering the ground lost in 2020. It  further said by 2022, world income will still be 3.7 per cent below its pre-pandemic level of annual global growth rate trend of 3 per cent during 2017-19, sans pandemic.

“However, considering the average annual global growth rate of 3 per cent in 2017–2019, world income will still be 3.7 per cent below where its pre-pandemic trend would have put it by 2022. Based on the nominal gross domestic product (GDP) estimates for this year, the expected shortfall represents a cumulative income loss of about USD 10 trillion1 in 2020–21. Looking ahead UNCTAD expects world output to grow 3.6 per cent in 2022,” the UNCTAD report added.

In India, consumer inflation was already at 6 per cent before the pandemic. The Covid-19 shock caused a temporary dip in prices, but as the economy recovered and food prices accelerated, the country returned to a 6 per cent inflation rate in mid-2021.