File Photo: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is leaving for the US tomorrow night to attend the IMF-World Bank Spring meetings in Washington.
RBI Governor Dr Raghuram Rajan and other senior officials of the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank will participate in the meeting that is likely to focus on the steps needed to give a push to the global economy.
Mr Jaitley, sources said, will leave for the US on the night of April 14, and will be back on April 20. The three-day Spring Meetings will begin from April 17.
India is likely to figure prominently at the meeting. International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde had described the country as a 'growth bright spot' during her visit last month.
"Forecasts for most emerging and developing economies are slightly worse than last year...(but) India is a growth bright spot," she had said.
China is slowing, Brazil is stagnating, many parts of the Middle East are beset with political and economic turmoil and Russia is experiencing economic difficulties, she added.
India is expected to emerge as the fastest growing economy overtaking China in the current financial year, as per projection by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
It has projected that India will grow by 7.8 per cent in the current fiscal and 8.2 per cent in 2016-17.
India is also likely to press for speeding up of IMF quota reforms to give more say to emerging economies in the multilateral body.
Emerging counties, like India, China, Brazil and Russia have been asking for increased voting rights in IMF, which would reflect their growing share in world economy.
The quota reform, once implemented, will increase India's voting share from the current 2.44 per cent to 2.75 per cent, following which the country will become the eighth largest quota holder at the IMF, up from the 11th position.