Kathua Rape ‘Revolting’, Modi Should Pay More Attention: IMF Chief

Christine Lagarde’s sharp remarks come in the backdrop of an outrage over the rape cases in Kathua and Unnao.

PM Narendra Modi and IMF Chief Christine Lagarde. 

(Photo: PTI/AP/Altered by The Quint)

Describing the latest incident of outrageous rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in India as "revolting", IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Thursday, 19 April, hoped that the Indian authorities, starting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would pay more attention to it.

Her sharp remarks come in the backdrop of a nationwide outrage over the rape cases in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua and Uttar Pradesh's Unnao.

What has happened (in India) is just revolting. I would hope that the Indian authorities, starting with Prime Minister Modi, pay more attention because it is needed for the women of India... When I was last in Davos after Prime Minister Modi’s speech, I did tell him that he had not mentioned the women of India enough. And it’s not just a question of talking about them.

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF)

She quickly clarified that this was her personal position and not that of the IMF.

"By the way, this is not an IMF official position. It is my position," she said.

Pace of Economic Reforms in India Unlikely to Continue in Election Year: Lagarde

Christine Lagarde also said on Thursday that she does not expect the pace of economic reforms in India to continue in an election year.

She made the remarks during an interaction with reporters at the start of the spring meeting of the international finance organisations.

"We have seen and we are seeing, I'm not sure that we will be seeing in the next few months given the elections that are coming up, but we have and we are seeing major reforms that we had recommended and advocated for a long time," she said responding to a question on economic reforms in India.

The Managing Director of the IMF said she does not expect the pace of economic reforms to continue in an election year.

Whether you talk about the GST, whether you talk about reforms of the bankruptcy law, those are good reforms. Hopefully, it will continue to position India in order to reap the benefit of the upswing, continue to develop its internal markets and generate this excellent growth rate of 7.4 percent, which is one of the highest in the emerging market economies. We expect more and you know, whether it’s in the banking sector or in other sectors, more reforms are expected.

IMF Chief Christine Lagarde

On Tuesday, the IMF said India is expected to grow at 7.4 percent in 2018 and 7.8 percent in 2019, leaving its nearest rival China behind respectively at 6.6 and 6.4 percent in the two years.

(This article was published in an arrangement with PTI.)

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