NEW DELHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday cautioned that higher oil prices due to the West Asia conflict will hurt most economies and also lowered India’s growth projections for the current financial year.IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook pegged India’s growth for 2026-27 at 6.4%, as against 6.5% projected in April and said it will remain among the fastest growing major economies, supported by strong momentum in private consumption and services activity. IMF expects growth to recover to 6.7% in the next financial year, compared to 6.5% estimated earlier. It suggested that the economy could regain some momentum once the external shock from higher energy prices begins to ease.
ADB reduced its forecast for India from 6.9% to 6.6%, “reflecting elevated energy prices, which squeeze real incomes”, while leaving next fiscal’s estimate unchanged at 7.3%IMF lowered growth projection for global economy to 3.1%, as against 3.5% estimated earlier. It said the fallout of the West Asia conflict is being partially offset by booming investment in AI and its adoption. It expects global growth to rebound to 3.4% in 2027.ADB expects the conflict to weigh more heavily on developing Asia and the Pacific than earlier anticipated.
