Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met IMF’s Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath to discuss G-20 issues ahead of India’s G-20 presidency next year. Sitharaman and the Indian-American economist also talked about current global matters.
During the meeting, they discussed current global matters, including food and energy security issues, global debt vulnerabilities, climate issues, digital assets and the upcoming G-20 presidency of India.
After her meeting the union finance minister, Gopinath tweeted, “Had a very good meeting with the Finance Minister of India @nsitharaman on G20 issues as India takes over the presidency soon.”
FM Sitharaman is currently in Washington DC to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, on the sidelines of which she has held a large number of bilateral and multilateral meetings.
India will assume the Presidency of the G20 for one year from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023. Under its Presidency, India is expected to host over 200 G20 meetings across the country.
Meanwhile, FM Sitharaman on Saturday took part in the Plenary Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) during which she underscored that Indian economy will stay on course despite global headwinds. “Indian economy is projected to grow at 7 per cent in FY 2022-23. This is an outcome of the conducive domestic policy environment and Government’s focus on key structural reforms to boost growth,” she said.
The finance minister emphasised the initiatives the Indian Government has taken to protect growth while pursuing inflation management. “We have ensured the availability of free food grains to more than 800 million vulnerable families for the past 25 months, through the country’s massive public distribution network.”
