Growth at 7% in FY09; Economy largely insulated from external shock

New Delhi, Oct 11 (UNI) The International Monetary Fund(IMF) says that while tighter global liqudity conditions will have a bearing on India, its growth performance will continue to be robust.

''We are projecting that the growth in India will come down from 8 per cent in 2008 to 7 per cent in 2009. But 7 per cent is still a strong rate of growth," Mr Olivier Blanchard, Economic Counselor and Director of the IMF's Research Department, recently told a press conference.

Mr Blanchard made this remark while releasing the 'World Economic Outllok' Report.

The questioner wanted to know what impact the world economic crisis will have on India, and sought to know the growth projections for the country.

''Like all other countries, India will be affected by the global slowdown. That reflects the fact that India is still largely a closed economy, has strong internal growth dynamics, from rapid productive growth, from its process of integration into the global economy that is still continuing,'' he said.

The official said there was some impact from tighter global liquidity conditions, but the IMF did not see a major drag from this impact on India.

''So overall, we see the Indian economy continuing to perform well,'' the official said.

UNI GS AK KP1844