Insight - World’s recovery outlook at risk as virus sweeps India

Yet for now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is shunning a nationwide lockdown and encouraging states to keep their economies open. And for that reason, economists are signaling risks to their forecasts, but not tearing them up all together just yet.

JUST two weeks ago, the International Monetary Fund upgraded India’s economic growth forecast to 12.5% – the quickest rate among major economies. Now, as Covid-19 cases surge the most globally, that bullish view is looking increasingly in doubt.

In Delhi, India’s political capital, the streets are mostly empty and the markets nearly deserted with almost all shops closed in response to curbs put in place by the local administration to fight the pandemic.