Shrugging off the temporary setbacks from demonetisation and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), India’s economy has still caught up with that of France and the UK and will have overtaken them both to become the world’s fifth largest economy in dollar terms in 2018, a new report said today.
According to statistics produced by Centre for Economic and Business Research in the 2018 World Economic League Table, India’s ascent is part of a trend that will see Asian economies increasingly dominate the top 10 largest economies over the next 15 years.
The report paints an upbeat picture of the Indian economy in the coming year, largely driven by cheap energy and technology prices.
“Despite temporary setbacks ... India’s economy has still caught up with that of France and the UK and in 2018 will have overtaken them both to become the world’s fifth largest economy in dollar terms,” said Douglas McWilliams, CEBR deputy chairman.
Report co-author Oliver Kolodseike said: “The interesting trend emerging is that by 2032 five of the ten largest economies will be in Asia while European economies are falling down the ranking and the USA loses its top spot.
“Technology and urbanisation will be important factors transforming the world economy over the next 15 years.”
According to the think-tank, Brazil will overtake France and the UK and become the sixth largest economy by 2028, while China will overtake the US to become the world’s largest dollar economy in 2030.
While Britain looks set to lag behind France over the next couple of years, Cebr predicted that Brexit’s effects on Britain’s economy will be less than feared, allowing it to overtake France again in 2020.
Russia was vulnerable to low oil prices and too reliant on the energy sector, and looked likely to fall to 17th place among the world’s largest economies by 2032, from 11th now.
The World Economic League Table tracks the size of different economies across the globe and projects changes over the next 15 years.
