Rating agency Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday slashed its 2020 growth forecast for India to 0.2% from 2.5% earlier holding that the economic costs of coronavirus crisis amid the near shutdown of the global economy are accumulating rapidly. “There are significant downside risks to our forecasts in the event that the pandemic is not contained and lockdowns have to be reinstated.
Even without longer-duration lockdowns, a self-perpetuating dynamic could take hold, resulting in large-scale destruction of businesses and entire sectors, as well as a structurally high unemployment rate, a permanent loss of human capital, and persistent malaise in consumption and investment," the rating agency said in its Global Macro Outlook update.