The central government is facing massive attacks from opposition parties over the projection of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Bangladesh is set to overtake India in terms of per capita income. However, the government retaliated stating that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India is 11 times that of Bangladesh in 2019.
Playing the projections of IMF, experts of the Modi government stated that the per capita GDP has increased from Rs. 83,091 in 2014-15 to Rs. 1,08,620 in 2019-20 which is an increase of about 30.7 percent.
Experts also cited that the GDP had increased by 19.8 percent during the second term of the Congress-led UPA government.
In 2019, GDP in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of India was 11 times more than that of Bangladesh while the population was eight times more. In PPP terms, India’s per capita GDP in 2020 is estimated by IMF at US $ 6,284 compared to US $ 5,139 for Bangladesh.
Earlier on Wednesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to take a dig at the BJP-led government over the IMF growth projection.
His tweet stated, “Solid achievement of 6 years of BJP’s hate-filled cultural nationalism. Bangladesh set to overtake India.”
Solid achievement of 6 years of BJP’s hate-filled cultural nationalism:
Bangladesh set to overtake India.
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— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 14, 2020
The forecast of IMF for India is a huge sinking revision from its previous prediction in June is the biggest contraction projected among major emerging markets amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, IMF in its latest ‘World Economic Outlook’ also said that India is likely to bounce back with an impressive 8.8 percent growth rate in 2021. Thus it will regain the position as the fastest-growing emerging economy surpassing China.
Also Read: Will The Economy Revive After COVID-19?