Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Central Election Committee (CEC) for Uttrakhand state elections, at BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Sunday. (PTI Photo)

International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook update slashing India’s growth prospects for 2016 by one percentage point has provided the Congress party and other Modi-baiters with another opportunity to attack the NDA government in Centre. In a series of tweets following the release of IMF report on Monday, the Congress claimed former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had already warned of a slump in the economy in the beginning of demonetisation exercise announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, 2016.

“Dr. Manmohan Singh warned against the drop in the beginning of demonetization. The ego of an individual has pushed billion ppl into trouble!,” the Indian National Congress tweeted. The party even accused Modi government of pushing India backwards on the line of government in Pakistan.

WATCH VIDEO | IMF Says India To Be World’s Fastest Growing Economy In 2017, 2018

Overview of World Economic Outlook projections.

However, the party appears to have not read the details of the report in depth. As the party has already used IMF report to attack the government, here’s something that may force Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and other opposition leaders to recalibrate their strategy against Modi.

Dr. Manmohan Singh warned against the drop in the beginning of demonetization. The ego of an individual has pushed billion ppl into trouble! https://t.co/kO6RJaZN2Q — INC India (@INCIndia) January 16, 2017

Owing to “the temporary negative consumption shock induced by cash shortages and payment disruptions associated with the recent currency note withdrawal and exchange initiative, the IMF has slashed India’s forecast for 2016 from 7.6 to 6.6%. The forecast for 2017 has also been slightly reduced by 0.4%.

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However, despite the “negative” IMF forecast for 2016 and 2017, as claimed by the critics of demonetisation, India would continue to grow faster than China in 2017 and 2018 by huge margins. For the year 2016, IMF has estimated growth in China to be at 6.7%, which is just 0.1% higher than India’s 6.6.

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If the forecast is to be believed, Indian economy would take a big leap in the next two years. In 2017, India would grow at 7.2% and at 7.7% in 2018. In contrast, China would grow at 6.5% and 6.0% in the respective years.

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The possibility of India growing more than the IMF forecast is also high. The report has mentioned that current trimming of India’s growth forecast is because of the “negative consumption”. However, with so much money available with banks after demonetisation and expected sops to be announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the upcoming Union Budget 2017, consumption pattern may grow faster than what have been estimated by the IMF for the forecast. Earlier, World Bank had also predicted healthy growth of Indian Economy in the years 2017 and 2018.

The next General Elections are scheduled for 2019. In the words of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, PM Modi would be “riding an elephant” if IMF forecast becomes true.