Economy: WB President Ajay Banga lauds India’s growth
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Applauding India’s current growth rate as the ‘shiniest’ part of the global economy, World Bank President Ajay Banga has said a lot of this growth is driven by the vast domestic market.
“I think being able to grow at six, seven percent and more in this kind of environment shows you that they’ve done several things to get there,” he told reporters ahead of next week’s annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the media reported on Friday.
A lot of that growth is in India and is driven by the domestic market as well, which actually is a healthy sign, in some ways. What India needs to work on as the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) laid out is things on quality of life, like air and the quality of water and the like, he said.
“We are actively engaged with them on a number of topics to do with these, and I think we will see more results of those coming out in the months ahead in terms of projects,” Banga said, responding to a question.
World Bank Managing Director for Operations Anna Bjerde said the bank is supporting the government in turning the growth into jobs and also sustainable development.
She underscored the need to increase female workforce participation as India has a huge potential to increase the level of participation by women.
The World Bank is also working with India on the urban development side as there’s so much potential to make cities much more livable whether it comes to air quality, water supply, or urban planning.
