The Indian government has expressed its disagreement with the IMF staff's 'baseline' assumption that the 50 per cent US tariffs on its goods exports 'would remain in place indefinitely', based on which the staff pegged the country's GDP growth at 6.6 per cent this year, and pared its 2026-27 projection by 20 basis points to 6.2 per cent.
India will oppose the World Bank funding to Pakistan next month, arguing that Islamabad has used such funds in the past to procure arms and ammunitions. India previously lobbied against the IMF extending a USD 2.3 billion assistance to Pakistan earlier this month, presenting evidence of Pakistan's misuse of funds for military purposes. India feels that Pakistan has failed to act on terror emanating from its territory and has been diverting funds from multilateral agencies to buy arms and ammunition.
In an unexpected move, the government has terminated services of K V Subramanian as the executive director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) six months ahead of his three-year tenure. The move comes days before the IMF executive board is to consider financial aid for debt-ridden Pakistan.
The disbursement of the second tranche comes on a day when the International Monetary Fund is holding virtual discussions on Pakistan's upcoming budget, as the visit of its mission to Islamabad was delayed due to security concerns in the region.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said its executive board granted $1 billion in assistance to Pakistan this month after finding out that the country met all conditions and targets for it.
India registered its protest at the board of IMF, which met on Friday to review the EFF lending programme for Pakistan.
India has opposed the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) proposal to extend fresh loans of USD 2.3 billion to Pakistan, citing concerns that the funds could be misused for financing state-sponsored cross-border terrorism. India abstained from voting at the IMF meeting, expressing concerns about Pakistan's track record and the possibility of debt financing being misused for terrorism. The IMF took note of India's statements and its abstention from the vote. India's opposition comes at a time when military conflict between India and Pakistan has intensified following a terrorist attack in Kashmir.
The best way for India to prepare is by preserving and strengthening the RBI's hard-won credibility, point out Rajeswari Sengupta and Vaishali Garga.
The Congress party in India has accused the government of "impropriety" in the sudden termination of KV Subramanian's position as India's executive director at the IMF, alleging it was linked to the Union Bank of India's purchase of two lakh copies of his book. The party also questioned the government's stance on Pakistan's request for a loan from the IMF.
India will argue for Pakistan's return to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list due to its alleged failure to combat money laundering and terror financing. The move comes after recent tensions between the two countries following a terror attack in Pahalgam, India. India believes Pakistan has not adequately addressed the issue of terrorism emanating from its territory and has diverted funds from multilateral agencies towards arms purchases.
The executive board of the International Monetary Fund held an informal meeting at its headquarters in Washington on Sunday to discuss the fallout of the arrest of its managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on rape charges in New York.
With general government debt now approaching three-quarters of GDP, and only incremental reform efforts visible, Pakistan risks prolonging its economic stagnation unless fundamental governance, regulatory, and industrial overhauls are undertaken.
Re-entry into the list could have far-reaching consequences for Pakistan, including diminished foreign investment, increased borrowing costs, and tighter scrutiny from global financial institutions.
The highest decision making body of the IMF met at its headquarters in Washington on Saturday in the wake of the corruption charges that have surfaced against its chief.
The International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn has said the Indian economy is recovering well and New Delhi would get higher quota in the IMF board, review of which is currently underway, reflecting its enhanced economic standing.
Pakistan claims it was a mosque and an educational complex that were hit in the strikes at Muridke, located at about 40 km from Lahore.
Pakistan's Ministry of Economic Affairs X account was hacked and a fake appeal was posted, calling for more international loans to help defuse tensions with India following the Pahalgam terror attack. The post urged the international community to help de-escalate the situation and requested more loans to address "heavy losses" caused by the tensions. The hacking incident occurred during a crucial meeting of the IMF executive board to decide on the next installment of a USD 7 billion loan for Pakistan.
India has decided to submit a dossier at the upcoming Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting, calling for Pakistan to be placed back on the grey list of the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog.
Pakistan on Friday said that the X account of its ministry of economic affairs was hacked and an appeal was posted on it for more international loans to meet the 'heavy losses' caused by the current tensions with India.
'When Prime Minister Modi met President Trump, they agreed to initiate a bilateral trade dialogue.' 'It makes sense to give these negotiations a chance.'
The IMF Board of Governors have approved a general allocation of special drawing rights equivalent to $250 billion to provide liquidity to global economic system by supplementing its member countries' foreign exchange reserves.
Gita Gopinath, the IMF's Indian-American chief economist has been promoted as its First Deputy Managing Director recognising her exceptional intellectual leadership in helping the global economy and the Fund to navigate the "twists and turns" of the "worst economic crisis of our lives". Gopinath would replace Geoffrey Okamoto who plans to leave the International Monetary Fund early next year, Kristalina Georgieva, IMF's managing director announced on Thursday. Gopinath, who was scheduled to return to her academic position at Harvard University in January 2022, has decided to stay, she said. Gopinath, 49, has served as the first female chief economist of the Washington-based global lender for three years.
Crypto assets should not be granted official currency or legal tender status, the much-awaited synthesis paper by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Financial Stability Board (FSB) has said ahead of the G20 leadership summit under India's presidency. However, the report has argued against a blanket ban on activities linked to crypto assets, explaining that such a move can be costly as well as technically demanding to enforce. Central banks should avoid holding crypto assets in their official reserve as they pose a risk to monetary and global financial stability, according to the synthesis paper.
The voting share of India in IMF would increase to 2.6 per cent from 2.34 per cent.
Widespread use of crypto assets, including stablecoins, can have a negative impact on the macroeconomic and financial stability of a country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday. In its Financial Stability Report (FSR), the banking regulator highlighted that excessive use of crypto assets can reduce effectiveness of monetary policy, worsen fiscal risks, circumvent capital flow management measures, divert resources available for financing the real economy and threaten global financial stability.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde has been put under formal investigation by French magistrates for alleged negligence in a political fraud affair dating from 2008 when she was finance minister.
India on Monday failed in its bid to prevent China and three other countries from getting more powers in the International Monetary Fund.
Facing the twin task of fighting the coronavirus pandemic today and building a better tomorrow, the world is experiencing a new Bretton Woods moment, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said
The government's initiative to migrate SEZ data from NSDL software to ICEGATE system for streamlined reporting of import data caused double counting of gold imports, resulting in inflated figures and the issue has now been largely rectified, government sources said. The downward revision has provided the actual picture of trade deficit (difference between imports and exports), which was earlier looking very high. The deficit for November will now be revised downwards from $37.84 billion to about $32.8 billion. Similarly, there will be a revision in overall import numbers as well.
User protection and a proposal for a licensing framework for companies seeking to operate in the cryptocurrency area will be part of an upcoming consultation paper on the sector, said a senior industry executive. Even as specific regulations around crypto are yet to take shape, companies are setting up baseline user protection processes, including a redressal mechanism, fraud detection, regular filing of suspicious transaction reports (STRs), among others.
The Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-India), the national agency responsible for analysing suspicious financial transactions, has received requests from four more offshore crypto exchanges to operate in India again, said a senior government official familiar with the matter. In the beginning of 2024, India had banned nine crypto exchanges - Binance, Kucoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, Bittrex, and Bitfenix - for non-compliance with anti-laundering law in the country.
Indian economist Kalpana Kochhar, who heads the Human Resources Department of the International Monetary Fund, is leaving the organisation to join the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the IMF announced on Wednesday. Kochhar, who served in various senior positions during her three decades at the IMF, will retire on July 30, it said.
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani on Thursday said his oil-to-telecom-and-retail conglomerate is not seeking short-term profit but is in the business of creating wealth for the nation. Speaking at the company's annual shareholder meeting, he said all businesses of Reliance Industries Ltd continue to be key drivers of the Indian economy and have become a success story. "We are not in the business of pursuing short-term profit and hoarding wealth. "We are in the business of creating wealth for India," he said.
The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF management and consideration by its executive board, which is expected in early April.
Bhalla will succeed former RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn, who died in the US on July 30 after a brief illness.
P Chidambaram said to be able to play a meaningful role in the global governance, the G-20 agenda should be sharper and focused only on those issues on which it can make a distinctive contribution, particularly, on economic and financial matters.
'India's emergence as a top crypto market comes despite a regulatory and tax environment that can be challenging for the industry to navigate.'
Greece was an opportunity for the IMF to set a precedent for an orderly debt resolution programme.
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