Tag: World Bank

With the world crippled by the corona virus, the economic crisis is imminent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that all the world nations have released $ 14 trillion in grants and other concessions to overcome this.

World Bank in its report released on Sunday praised India's Arogya Setu app which helps significantly in contact tracing and curbing the spread of the dreaded coronavirus pandemic. According to a report by Times of India, days after the launch of the app, global tech majors Apple and Google said on Saturday that they were building a software for smartphones that would help in contact tracing and inform users whether they were in touch with Covid-19 infected persons. India leads the way in contact tracing for Covid-19: privacy first by design, secure, robust and scalable to billion users. Glad to see Apple and Google joining hands to develop contact tracing on the lines of AarogyaSetu,” NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant said on Twitter, tagging Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

World Bank is planning to give funds to the tune of ₹5,000 crore for improving water supply and resilience during disasters. Chennai Corporation is likely to get funding for eco-restoration of 25 waterbodies in various parts of the city. The eco-restoration work is expected to improve groundwater level and promote resilience. Many areas affected by the floods in 2015 are likely to improve after the eco-restoration.

The World Bank cut India’s growth for financial year 2020 to 5% from 6% estimated earlier, the country's statistics office pegged growth in the current financial year at 5%, the lowest in 11 years. The multilateral lender expects the country’s growth to recover only slightly to 5.8% in the next fiscal year. The bank’s Global Economic Prospectsreport released cited a lingering weakness in credit from non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) as the main cause for the downgrade. This is the slowest growth forecast since the 3.1% rate recorded in financial year 2008-09. Global economic growth, is expected to rise to 2.5% in the current calendar year, underpinned by a gradual recovery in investment and trade from last year’s significant weakness. Regional growth: In comparison, Bangladesh will be ahead compared to India. Its GDP growth rate is estimated to be 7.2%, while in Pakistan it is expected to be at 3 % & Sri Lanka’s growth rates at 3.3% for FY-20. About World Bank: Motto– Working for a World Free of Poverty Formation– July 1944 Headquarters– Washington, D.C., U.S President– David Malpass