World Bank chief Ajay Banga said he is optimistic about India's growth story
India's growth rate gives it an advantage in tackling poverty if the country maintains the current momentum, the new World Bank President Ajay Banga said in Delhi today.
Mr Banga, the first India-origin head of the global anti-poverty lender, said the best way to tackle poverty for India is through economic growth and jobs.
Responding to a question by NDTV on the recently released NITI Aayog report that said multidimensional poverty rate in India fell from 24.85 per cent in 2015-16 to 14.96 per cent in 2019-2021, Mr Banga said, "The best way to drive a nail in the coffin of poverty is growth."
He said gains in the global fight against poverty in the past four decades suffered a setback due to the COVID-19 pandemic and high interest rates, but India has an advantage due to the country's economic growth.
"India has had an advantage over this (poverty) because your economy has been growing, you had a year or two of challenges during the pandemic, you've come out of it relatively strong. If you can maintain this momentum, the best way to tackle poverty is growth in jobs. The best way to drive a nail in the coffin of poverty is growth," he said.
The World Bank President said most countries would be very happy with an over 7 per cent growth rate that India recorded in fiscal 2023. While India faced challenges during the two years of the pandemic, Mr Banga said the country came out of the challenges relatively strong compared to others, though he stressed on the need for skill-building and education.
"I'm more optimistic about today than I was in the past few years, considering all the investment in digital and physical infrastructure. India is focused on growth and that makes me optimistic," said Mr Banga on the Indian economy's outlook.
Mr Banga was in India to attend the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meet in Gujarat's Gandhinagar. He visited a Skill India Mission centre in Delhi's Dwarka today.
"The government of India got the idea for skilling in a conversation with the World Bank during the PM's first tenure, and since then the government got hooked to it," Mr Banga said, referring to the first term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Banga said the global economy has proven to be resilient amid predictions of challenges. "The global economy has proven resilient; everybody has been proven wrong. Forecasts are not destiny," said Mr Banga.
On what makes Mr Banga optimistic about India, he said, "India is doing a lot of things which allowed us to stay ahead. India has had a great growth year. If there's a global slowdown, one thing that India has growing is the very high percentage of its GDP (gross domestic product) that comes from domestic consumption. Your exposure to the typical impact of a global slowdown caused by slowing trade is cushioned by the relatively high percentage of the economy that comes from domestic consumption."