India not to seek funds from IMF in next 5 years: Raghuram Rajan
India is not facing any economic crisis and won't approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for funds in the next five years as the country has enough forex reserves, Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan has said.
"There's no way we are close to being a country in financial or economic crisis...There's not a chance we will go to the IMF for money in the next five years," he said at a debate global economy on a private news channel.
The apex bank has taken a series of measures to strengthen rupee and promote growth.
Allaying fears of India not being able to meet its financial obligations, he said, "India's external debt to GDP is 22 per cent. 22 per cent of GDP is external debt and India's has reserve of $280 billion which is 15 per cent of GDP."
In other words, the country can pay three-fourth of its debt from its forex reserves, he said.
"Out of total short-term external debt that we have to pay for is 10 per cent of GDP. So, we have enough reserve to take care of that," he said speaking on the sidelines of the IMF meeting in Washington.
"We bought over $60 billion dollar gold last year. $60 billion accounts for three-fourth of our current account deficit. If the push comes to shove, we can pay the world in gold."
He said while India's economy has slowed, the country's forex reserves are large enough.
"We need to bring back growth now. But we're still doing better than a significant number of economies in the world," he said.