Indermit Gill News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. As we come to the end of the year, I want to draw attention to a debate that ought to have received greater attention. In August, Indermit Gill, World Bank’s chief economist, shocked everyone by arguing that on current trends, it would take India 75 years to achieve a quarter of the United States’ per capita gross domestic product (GDP).

He observed that the share of middle-income countries in global GDP has grown, but their productivity and efficiency remain significantly below those of high-income economies. He added that India is better positioned than many of its peers to navigate the current global challenges. «Time is of essence for India to accelerate its structural reforms and the changes needed are not happening quickly enough,» he said, asking policymakers to capitalise on economy's strengths while addressing inefficiencies and fostering institutional resilience.

budget will help keep its growth outlook healthy, said World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill, flagging the reduction in public debt as a key focus area for the government, along with putting education in mission mode. He noted that India has done a good job of making sure the fiscal deficit is reduced from last year.

Interest rates could remain higher than expected in 2024 and 2025 as global commodity prices level off, the World Bank said in a report released Thursday. The report also noted that a significant flare-up in the Middle East could further stoke global inflation. «A key force for disinflation-falling commodity prices has essentially hit a wall. That means interest rates could remain higher than currently expected this year and next. The world is at a vulnerable moment: a major energy shock could undermine much of the progress in reducing inflation over the past two years,» said Indermit Gill, chief economist, World Bank. The World Bank's index of commodity prices has remained unchanged since mid-2023. The new Commodity Outlook projects prices are expected to decline 3% in 2024 and 4% in the following year.

By Andrea Shalal

World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report. “Without a major course correction, the 2020s will go down as a decade of wasted opportunity," said Indermit Gill, the World Bank Group’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President. “Near-term growth will remain weak, leaving many developing countries—especially the poorest—stuck in a trap: with paralyzing levels of debt and tenuous access to food for nearly one out of every three people.

Hobbled by high interest rates, persistent inflation, slumping trade and a diminished China, the global economy will slow for a third consecutive year in 2024

World Bank warned on Tuesday that global growth in 2024 is set to slow for a third year in a row, prolonging poverty and debilitating debt levels in many developing countries. Hamstrung by the COVID-19 pandemic, then the war in Ukraine and ensuing spikes in inflation and interest rates around the world, the first half of the 2020s now looks like it will be the worst half-decade performance in 30 years, it added.

The prospect that high interest rates will keep constricting the global economy is worrying World Bank officials as they look to the impact on nations nursing large debts.

By Andrea Shalal and David Lawder