The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said India's revised GDP calculation methodology is consistent with best practices and its own advice, with the Fund's Asia-Pacific chief calling the base revision a "welcome development" at a press briefing in Bangkok.
Krishna Srinivasan, Director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, told reporters that the methodology changes are "entirely consistent" with the advice the Fund, including its statistics department, has been giving India. He credited the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) for its "good work" in improving GDP statistics.
Rupee pressure not a sign of economic failure
Srinivasan said India had entered the energy shock with strong fundamentals and responded well to it, and that pressure on the exchange rate should not be read as a sign of economic failure. The exchange rate, he said, is "a function of global interest rates, investor risk appetite, and oil prices", not a real disconnect with growth.
The remarks accompanied the release of the IMF's Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and the Pacific on Thursday, which names India among the emerging economies that faced currency pressure after the energy shock. The report notes that the pressure has partly eased over the past few months and lists India among the economies that stepped into foreign exchange markets.
The backdrop: a row over the data
The endorsement lands weeks after a political row broke out over the better-than-expected 7.8% GDP growth figure for the April-June quarter. Former Finance Secretary S.C. Garg alleged the data had been artificially boosted by compressing the previous year's figures, a claim picked up by opposition parties questioning the integrity of the government's data.
Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageshwaran rejected Garg's approach as "cherry-picking", saying the latest figures were compiled using the financial year ending March 2023 as the new base, and that a change in methodology led to revisions of the previous year's quarterly data.
Sources:
CNBC TV18: IMF backs India's updated GDP methodology, calls revision 'welcome development'
ET BFSI / IANS: IMF praises India's economic resilience, reforms and fiscal prudence
Krishna Srinivasan, Director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, told reporters that the methodology changes are "entirely consistent" with the advice the Fund, including its statistics department, has been giving India. He credited the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) for its "good work" in improving GDP statistics.
Rupee pressure not a sign of economic failure
Srinivasan said India had entered the energy shock with strong fundamentals and responded well to it, and that pressure on the exchange rate should not be read as a sign of economic failure. The exchange rate, he said, is "a function of global interest rates, investor risk appetite, and oil prices", not a real disconnect with growth.
The remarks accompanied the release of the IMF's Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and the Pacific on Thursday, which names India among the emerging economies that faced currency pressure after the energy shock. The report notes that the pressure has partly eased over the past few months and lists India among the economies that stepped into foreign exchange markets.
The backdrop: a row over the data
The endorsement lands weeks after a political row broke out over the better-than-expected 7.8% GDP growth figure for the April-June quarter. Former Finance Secretary S.C. Garg alleged the data had been artificially boosted by compressing the previous year's figures, a claim picked up by opposition parties questioning the integrity of the government's data.
Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageshwaran rejected Garg's approach as "cherry-picking", saying the latest figures were compiled using the financial year ending March 2023 as the new base, and that a change in methodology led to revisions of the previous year's quarterly data.
Sources:
CNBC TV18: IMF backs India's updated GDP methodology, calls revision 'welcome development'
ET BFSI / IANS: IMF praises India's economic resilience, reforms and fiscal prudence
