Besides French Finance Minister Lagarde, seen as a strong candidate, there are four to five other aspirants in the race for the post vacated by Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Ground reality suggests that someone from the developing world does not stand a chance to emerge victorious.
The International Monetary Fund expects India's economic growth rate to moderate to 7.5-7.75 per cent this fiscal, from 8.5 per cent in 2010-11, on account slowing investments and sluggish global recovery.
The announcement has been enabled by the IMF's recent announcement of a framework for issuance of notes to the official sector. These notes will allow investments in the IMF to be treated as international reserves. Therefore, RBI will be able to invest a portion of its foreign reserves in the IMF.
India's forex reserves jumped by $ 2.76 billion to $ 623.2 billion in the week ended December 29, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had increased by $4.47 billion to $620.44 billion. In October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $ 645 billion.
As the race for the next International Monetary Fund chief hots up, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said he was in touch with his counterparts from developed and emerging economies on the issue and was keeping a close watch on the developments.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) state of the economy report observed that any durable alignment of headline retail inflation with the target of 4 per cent could recommence in the second half of FY25 and sustain until numbers closer to the target are seen during the course of FY26, dashing hopes of any reduction in the policy repo rate in the current financial year. The report, authored by RBI staffers, including Deputy Governor in charge of monetary policy Michael Patra, said though headline numbers may fall in July and August due to base effect, it is likely to reverse in September.
The IMF has decided to raise India's quota and vote shares in the bank. India has welcomed this move as having a 'catalytic effect' on reforms in the World Bank and other institutions under the UN umbrella. The major reform proposal under which the quota share would be increased from 1.92 per cent to 2.44 per cent and vote share from 1.88 per cent to 2.34 per cent was endorsed by the IMFC of the IMF. The move would push India's position up to 11th among the 184 member nations
Pakistan may want to undertake a 'false flag' operation in J&K to divert attention from the situation in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but infiltrating one SSG battalion into J&K and having two SSG battalions waiting to follow suit means war, which Pakistan cannot afford in its current economic crisis, notes Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
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Female labour force participation in India is lower than many other EM economies.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will pitch for quota and governance reforms in the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund.
The International Monetary Fund has reduced India's contribution to world gross domestic product in purchasing power parity terms to 4.6 per cent in 2007 from the earlier estimate of 6.4 per cent.
For India to view the new Sri Lankan leadership only through the prism of the past or through their narrow view on China, is fraught with possibilities that should be avoided, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
In the first quarter of FY14, real GDP growth estimated by the Central Statistics Office stood at 4.4 per cent on a factor cost basis, and at 2.4 per cent on a market price basis, the IMF said.
"Growth is expected to moderate gradually in China... pick up in India, and remain broadly stable in the Asean-5 region."
It will depend on how the Fund chooses to deploy its newfound power, asks Dani Rodrik.
The specter of war in Iraq and instability in the world's No. 5 oil producer, Venezuela, as well as world market woes, bode poorly for the global economy, a top IMF official said on Friday.
Many analysts were surprised at the speed with which India bought the IMF gold. However, they believe that it is a very smart move as by buying IMF gold, New Delhi is shoring up its bullion reserves and slowly trying to hedge its bets on the US dollar which has been losing value against other currencies.
The fund said oil prices are still at double the levels recorded in end-2006, even after the 40 per cent fall in prices from the peak they reached in July this year. Food prices too are still above end-2006 levels. Because of this, fuel importing low-income countries will see their import bill increase by 3.2 per cent of their GDP, while food importing countries will spend additional amount equivalent to 0.8 per cent of GDP on food.
Lagarde said that she had elaborate discussions on the general economic situation.
Christine Lagarde warned of a repeat of high market volatility.
The International Monetary Fund has said the global economy in 2009 is likely to contract for the first time since the Second World War.
In a statement, the world body said policy measures to stimulate Indian economy and a good harvest should support domestic demand. After last year's record of 9.2 per cent of GDP, the IMF said the capital inflows are expected to decline this fiscal year. Till December 2008 portfolio investment recorded a $11 billion outflow.
The International Monetary Fund has said it broadly supports the series of economic reforms undertaken by India, which is moving in the right direction.
The RBI has already hiked interest rates 12 times since March, 2010, to control inflation, which is currently hovering near the double-digit mark.
Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the US and China's slowdown are contributing to uncertainty and higher market volatility.
The International Monetary Fund has ended its annual meetings without doing anything to enhance its credibility and effectiveness. In the process, as Finance Minister P Chidambaram warned in Washington, it risks becoming irrelevant.
India's forex reserves jumped $2.816 billion to $606.86 billion in the week ended December 8, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had risen $6.11 billion to $604.04 billion. It can be noted that in October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion.
IMF has praised India's economic performance and has negated the concept of decoupling as economies today are much closely related to each other.
IMF also asked countries around the world to coordinate policies to achieve a global rebalancing and sustain the recovery.
The International Monetary Fund has welcomed the decision of the United Arab Emirates to come to the rescue of its banks in Dubai and said it is monitoring the situation that took the world market by surprise.
IMF MD Christine Lagarde hailed the government's latest Budget.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde on Tuesday became the first woman to head the International Monetary Fund after its executive board chose her over Mexican central bank governor Agustin Carstens.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg are also expected to attend the meetings.
"The BRICS are open to consider, if necessary, providing support through the IMF or other international financial institutions in order to address the present challenges to global financial stability, depending on individual country circumstances," said a joint communiqu issued by the BRICS finance ministers after their meeting.
In a statement, the IMF said French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and the Mexican economist Agustin Carstens were interviewed by its Executive Board this week.
The International Monetary Fund is going through interesting times. It is in the process of reforming a number of funds, core functions and aligning itself to the current economic realities.
Battling damaging allegations of sexual assault, Strauss-Kahn tendered his resignation from the top post of the IMF on Wednesday, while maintaining that he was innocent.
