Nirmala Sitharaman meets IMF’s Gita Gopinath, discusses Debt Vulnerabilities

New Delhi (India), 12th April 2023: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with Gita Gopinath, the First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Tuesday to address debt risks and other topics.

A powerful Indian team is being led by FM Sitharaman to the annual spring meeting of the IMF and the World Bank.

The Finance Ministry had Twitter, “Union Finance Minister Smt.@nsitharaman met with Ms.@GitaGopinath, FDMD, International Monetary Fund @IMFNews, on the sidelines of the IMF-WB #SpringMeetings 2023 in Washington DC, today.”

After the meeting, the finance ministry tweeted that she praised Gopinath for moving forward with the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable with the World Bank and reaffirmed India’s commitment to supporting initiatives to address rising debt risks.

Sitharaman during the meeting raised the key economic downside risks identified by the IMF in its World Economic Outlook report, including financial sector stress, rising real interest rates, high debt, inflation, geopolitical fragmentation, and slowing Chinese growth.

Gopinath also commended the finance minister for holding constructive conversations that resulted in a consensus set of guiding principles and an action plan on crypto assets, according to the ministry. The consensus was reached in February on the necessity for a globally coordinated policy response on crypto assets.