Expect ministers to attack Gita Gopinath: Chidambaram on IMF forecast

New Delhi, Jan 21: Congress leader P Chidambaram launched a scathing attack on the government and said it was likely that its ministers would go all out in attacking the IMF and its Chief Economist Gita Gopinath for their projection.

"IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath was one of the first to denounce demonetisation. I suppose we must prepare ourselves for an attack by government ministers on the IMF and Dr Gita Gopinath," Chidambaram tweeted.

He said the latest forecast could also be after some "window dressing" and that the actual numbers could be even lower.

"Even the 4.8 per cent (growth) is after some window dressing. I will not be surprised if it goes even lower," he tweeted.

The IMF on Monday lowered growth estimate for the world economy to 2.9 per cent for 2019. For the current calendar year 2020, India saw a sharp 1.2 percentage point cut in its growth forecast to 5.8 per cent, the biggest downward revision for any emerging market, which pulled down global growth forecast.

"The downward revision primarily reflects negative surprises to economic activity in a few emerging market economies, notably India, which led to a reassessment of growth prospects over the next two years. In a few cases, this reassessment also reflects the impact of increased social unrest," the IMF said.