The projection is the lowest since the 1991 balance of payments (BoP) crisis

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to trouble the world, the global economy has taken a huge hit. On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slashed India's economic growth to 1.9% for the current financial year.

The projection is the lowest since the 1991 balance of payments (BoP) crisis and is significantly low from its 5.8 per cent forecast earlier.

However, the IMF has still put India as the fastest-growing emerging economies of the world. 

Ironically, other than India, the only other country that will register a positive growth is China, according to IMF. China's projected growth rate is 1.2 per cent.

For 2021, India's growth rate is projected at 7.4 per cent, while that of China at 9.2 per cent. The United States has been projected to grow at 4.5 per cent and Japan 3 per cent, the IMF report said.

The report also predicts a fall in the economies of most countries falling under the advanced economy group, including the United States (-5.9%), Japan (-5.2%), the United Kingdom (-6.5%), Germany (-7.0%), France (-7.2%), Italy (-9.1%), and Spain (-8.0%)

"We project global growth in 2020 to fall to -3 per cent. This is a downgrade of 6.3 percentage points from January 2020, a major revision over a very short period," Indian--American Gita Gopinath, the IMF Chief Economist said.

Other countries that are predicted to have a severe slowdown include Latin America (-5.2%), Brazil (-5.3%), Mexico (-6.6%), emerging and developing Europe (-5.2%), and Russia(-5.5%).

On Sunday, the World Bank said that India is likely to record its worst growth performance since the 1991 liberalisation this fiscal year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Globally, the bank said that economic growth is projected to recover 2.5% in 2020 from 2.4% in 2019. Also, the bank has noted that downside risk persists and it is likely to have an impact on the world's economic growth.