FM: Essential for emerging economies to be engines of growth

INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said it is essential for emerging economies to become growth engines and help in resolving challenges facing the world.

She further said the G20 Presidency has come at a crucial stage to the emerging economies, stressing that three years are critical for the global economy, which is going through a reset.

India holds the presidency of G20, which is a grouping of developing and developed countries. India has taken over the presidency from Indonesia and will hand it over to Brazil later in the year.

Addressing the Indian diaspora in Seoul, the minister said India is being noticed worldwide not just because it is the fastest-growing large economy - this year as well as the coming year - but also because of the way in which it has handled the pandemic and economic revival. The minister is in Seoul to attend the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). She said while the advanced economies today are looking at a long-drawn recession, central banks in those countries are raising interest rates and dealing with inflation.

“In such a situation globally, how can economies, particularly emerging market economies, who are all showing good signs of growth...is it possible for us to sustain that growth, is it possible for us to give greater energy to that growth momentum so that emerging markets can literally be the engines of growth and help the global crisis be solved,” Sitharaman said.

The minister said the G20 troika -- Indonesia, India and Brazil-- are all emerging economies, and hence it is important that the voice of the global south be heard. The ‘Global South’ largely refers to countries in Asia, Africa and South America.

“The three years are going to be important for the global economy to reset itself and readjust to the global realities,” she said, adding there is a recession on one hand and economic revival from COVID on the other.

Also, artificial intelligence, deep data analytics and the Internet of Things are being used extensively, she added.