India To Overtake UK And France To Become Fifth-Largest Economy In 2018

A new report published on Tuesday by the Centre for Economics and Business Research consultancy predicted that at the current rate, India will overtake UK and France to become the fifth largest economy in dollar terms in the world in 2018. A new trend has been observed about the ascent of the Asian economies dominating the top 10 largest economies in the next 15 years. The consultancy’s 2018 World Economic League Table painted an upbeat view of the global economy, boosted 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.

Douglas McWilliams went on to say that India’s growth had been slowed by restrictions on demonetisation and GST, a view which is shared by economists polled by Reuters. He also said that China is likely to overtake the United States of America as the world’s largest economy in 2032. “Because the impact of President Trump on trade has been less severe than expected, the USA will retain its global crown a year longer than we anticipated in the last report,” the report said. Because of Brexit, Britain is looking at a rough couple of years and is likely to lag behind France but the effects will be less than feared and Britain will overtake France again by 2020.

Russia, the 11th largest economy in the world, is likely to fall down the chart as it is vulnerable to low oil prices and is too reliant on the energy sector. A Reuters poll of economists in late October suggested global economic growth in 2018 looks likely to quicken slightly to 3.6 per cent from 3.5 per cent this year – with risks to that forecast lying on the upside.