Stating that India is likely to grow over 6% this year, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said she was still worried about the global economic outlook and geopolitical environment.

“Sitharaman stated that despite this year’s projected growth rate of over 6% for the Indian economy, we remain concerned about the global economic outlook and geopolitical environment,” the finance ministry tweeted quoting Sitharaman at the Development Committee Meeting of the World Bank-IMF Spring Meeting in Washington DC.

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The finance ministry’s Economic Survey on January 31 had projected the country’s GDP growth to be 6-6.8% in FY24, against advance estimate of 7% in FY23.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday lowered its growth forecasts for India for the current fiscal and the next by 20 bps and 50 bps, to 5.9% and 6.3%, respectively. This was broadly in line with the cuts in its global growth forecasts for 2023 and 2024 by 10 bps each to 2.8% and 3%, but indicated that India may not be weathering the global turmoil as exceptionally as it was expected to. Of course, India will still be the fastest-growing major economy during the forecast period.

Participating in the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR), the minister said there is a need to augment present global efforts, including those of the G20 to address growing debt distress across the globe, a priority for the G20 India Presidency for 2023.

“The FM further stressed on debt transparency and information-sharing, and clarity on the comparability of treatment, predictability & timeliness of the debt restructuring process, including a way to assess and enforce, and the timelines for the steps involved in debt restructuring,” the ministry tweeted.

Co-chaired by IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank Group president David Malpass and Sitharaman, the GSDR discussed debt sustainability and debt restructuring challenges and ways to address them.

During the first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting in February, the urgency to address debt vulnerabilities in low and middle-income countries, including Sri Lanka, was recognised.

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The meeting is focused on the actions that can be taken now to accelerate debt restructuring processes and make them more efficient, including under the G20 Common Framework, according to a statement issued by the roundtable.

“We agreed on the importance to urgently improve information sharing, including on macroeconomic projections and debt sustainability assessments, at an early stage of the process. The IMF and World Bank will rapidly issue staff guidance on information sharing at each stage of the restructuring process,” it said.