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India hosts IMF’s Training and Technical Assistance Centre for South Asia
NEW DELHI – India is to play host to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s new Regional Training and Technical Assistance Centre for South Asia for the benefit of officials in the region.
This will be the first fully integrated centre of the IMF and a model for its future capacity development work to be set up in the South Asian region with substantial financial commitment of India.
Revealing this initiative at the IMF Conference on ‘Advancing Asia: Investing for the Future’ at Taj Palace in New Delhi on Saturday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted that other countries in the region including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal have joined with India along with Australia and the Republic of Korea in making this a reality.
The aim of setting up of this centre is to extend training and technical assistance to countries in the South Asian region for economic transformation and reforms, he pointed out.
He told a packed audience of ministers, top central bank officials including Governors, Finance Ministry officials, business leaders and heads of chambers of commerce of over 30 countries that Asia is the ray of hope for global economic recovery.
India has historically contributed to Asia in several ways. India has dispelled the myth that democracy and rapid economic growth cannot go together he said adding that his country has also shown that a large, diverse country can be managed in a way that can promote economic growth and maintain social stability.
“Our rapid economic growth is also very distinct in Asia. We have never tried to gain in trade at expense of our partners. We have achieved major gains in macro economic stability,” he added.
The Indian Premier noted that his dream is of a ‘Transformed India’ alongside the common dream of an ‘Advanced Asia’ – an Asia where more than half of the global population can live with happiness and fulfillment. He expressed the belief that the joint heritage and mutual respect, common goals and similar policies, can and must create sustainable growth and shared prosperity in the Asian region.
Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director, in her speech said: “Asia’s rapid integration into the world economy has been one of the most striking global developments of the last generation. In that relatively short time, many countries across this vast and diverse region have achieved economic miracles, and several have become powerhouses of the global economy.”
For the past 25 years—the Asian crisis notwithstanding—the region’s economy has grown by around 6 per cent a year. In the aftermath of the recent global financial crisis, Asia was a rare bright spot, she added.
She stressed the importance of leveraging the impact of fiscal policy which means targeting social spending on the neediest. Countries such as the Philippines, for example, have pioneered conditional cash transfer programs. Effective redistribution also means avoiding costly across-the-board subsidies, and making taxes more progressive, she pointed out.