Hope amid uncertainty: On IMF’s World Economic Outlook (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations 
Prelims level: World Economic Outlook
Mains level: Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate

Context:

• The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook sums up the challenges ahead in the report’s title: ‘A long and difficult ascent’.
• COVID-19 has already extracted a toll of over a million lives, accompanied by an eviscerationof livelihoods and output in economies.

Danger of resurgence:

• Prognosticating the economic future even as the pandemic rages on is an unenviable task.
• The Fund’s economists have gamely sought to make forecasts for world output through 2020, 2021 and into the medium term.
• While the global economy is projected to shrink 4.4% this year, reflecting a less severe contraction than the 5.2% drop estimated in June, output is seen rebounding at a marginally slower 5.2% pace in 2021.
• The IMF has based its revision on “better-than-anticipated second-quarter GDP out-turns, mostly in advanced economies” where activity improved after lockdowns were eased, as well as signs of a stronger recovery in the July-September quarter.
• IMF has been prudent in pointing out that even as the world economy ascends out of the depths it plunged to in April, there remains the danger of a resurgence in infections.
• And the risks associated with predicting the pandemic’s progression, the unevenness of public health responses, and the extent to which domestic activity can be disrupted, magnify the uncertainty.

Pandemic induced scars:

• Pandemic is set to leave scars well into the medium term ‘as labour markets take time to heal, investment is held back by uncertainty and balance sheet problems, and lost schooling impairs human capital’.
• IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath contends that global growth will gradually slow to about 3.5% in the medium term.
• With the cumulative loss in output relative to the pre-pandemic projected path estimated to more than double to $28 trillion over 2020–25, efforts to improve average living standards are certain to be severely set back.
• Observing that the pandemic is set to widen inequality between economies and within nations, the Fund has urged greater international cooperation.
• It is imperative for all countries to work closely to ensure that new treatments and vaccines are made available to all.
• Faster availability of medical solutions could boost global income by almost $9 trillion by end-2025, reducing income divergence, she says.
• With no visibility yet on vaccine availability, the IMF has also stressed the need for policymakers to persist with direct income support for the most vulnerable and regulatory forbearance for stressed but viable firms.
• The message is clear. In a world as interconnected as it is today, the cost of economic insularity would only be more protracted pain for all.

 Conclusion:

• IMF calls for more international cooperation as the world economy recovers slowly.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the ‘Natural Gas Marketing Reforms’, consider the following statements:
1. The policy aims to provide standard procedure for sale of natural gas in a transparent and competitive manner to discover market price by issuing guidelines for sale by contractor through e-bidding.
2. The policy has also permitted Affiliate companies to participate in the bidding process in view of the open, transparent and electronic bidding.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: C

Mains Questions:

Q.1)On IMF’s World Economic Outlook how the Indian economy could be revamped?How are the demands subdued?How will infrastructure investment help India do this?