Owing to thriving growth, India is in a stronger position and has the opportunity to influence the global agenda, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said. He feels that India is an important G20 participant and could be a force multiplier.
“India has been growing very strongly. We expect growth to moderate slightly, but India's growth will still be very strong by international standards. We see India continuing to grow strongly into the future. It's a key player in the G20. So, there's a lot of opportunity for India this year to help shape the global agenda,” Cormann said in an exclusive interaction with Moneycontrol on January 16, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. .
"India can get the world together to solve the current problems and challenges," he added.
Unlike the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Economic Forum (WEF), OECD is not forecasting any recession. "OECD is not forecasting a recession. The global environment has become benign, headline inflation has eased on the back of lower than anticipated energy and food prices, in fact some energy prices lower than when war began," Cormann said.
He also talked about the WEF survey results that predicted a global recession in 2023, polycrisis, reglobalization, Covid's residual repercussions on the world economy, the economic effects of the Ukraine war, supply chain challenges, and more.
Responding to the question regarding the WEF's warning that the world could witness a polycrisis, he stated that the Covid pandemic created a situation that had not occurred in at least a century. He also mentioned that the Ukraine war has resulted in high inflation, high energy and food costs, supply chain strains, and geopolitical tensions.
Cormann said, “There is significant level of uncertainty and there are significant downside risks. There's no question the world has gone through a one in a 100-year pandemic, with some lingering effects. We've got the economic and social impact of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, high inflation, high energy prices, high food prices, supply chain pressures, and geopolitical tensions”, and stressed, that the world today needs ‘increased global cooperation’.
In response to the query about the World Bank cutting growth predictions for the most countries, he suggested that nations could address rising inflation while also giving fiscal support to sectors to enable them survive.
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When questioned about cross-border data flows and how a framework could be put in place about how the government can access the personal information of citizens held by private companies, he said that data flow should happen with trust among government, businesses, and individuals, and added that flow of data will be crucial in optimising the digital economy of the future.
On why the OECD has ranked India low over data restrictions, alongside China and Southeast Asian countries, he said after India has talked about easing data and localization norms, he expected the ranking to improve.
