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According to news agency PTI, the United Nations has cut down its 2025 economic growth prediction to 6.3%. “Despite a projected moderation, the country remains one of the fastest-growing large economies, supported by resilient consumption and government spending,” the UN stated.

A study titled ‘The World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2025′ was released by the United Nations on Thursday.

Ingo Pitterle, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Global Economic Monitoring Branch, Economic Analysis and Policy Division, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), stated at a press briefing that “India remains one of the fastest-growing large economies, driven by strong private consumption and public investment, even as growth projections have been lowered to 6.3% in 2025,” according to PTI.

According to the analysis, increased trade tensions and policy uncertainties indicate that the world economy is at a vulnerable point. Recent tariff increases that are “driving the effective US tariff rate up steeply” pose a danger to global supply networks, increase manufacturing costs, and worsen financial instability.

India continues to be one of the largest economies with the greatest rates of growth, according to the research, despite a predicted slowdown, thanks to strong government investment and solid consumer spending.

India’s GDP is expected to increase by 6.3% in 2025, compared to 7.1% in 2024.

“Resilient private consumption and strong public investment, alongside robust services exports, will support economic growth,” according to the research.

Pharmaceuticals, electronics, semiconductors, energy, and copper are among the “currently exempt sectors” that “could limit the economic impact, though these exemptions may not be permanent,” the report said, even as impending US tariffs have an impact on goods exports.

India’s 2025 growth forecast of 6.3% is just less than the 6.6% predicted in the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2025 report, which was released in January of this year. It is anticipated that India’s GDP would expand by 6.4% in 2026.

India’s unemployment rate is almost unchanged despite stable economic circumstances, but the country’s ongoing gender employment gaps highlight the need for more inclusive labor participation. According to the analysis, India’s inflation rate is expected to remain within the central bank’s target range, reducing from 4.9% in 2024 to 4.3% in 2025, according to PTI.

Most central banks in the South Asian area have been able to start or sustain monetary easing in 2025 as a result of declining inflation. According to the research, the Reserve Bank of India started its easing cycle in February 2025 after maintaining its policy rate at 6.5% since February 2023. Under IMF-backed initiatives, the governments of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are anticipated to carry out economic reforms and budgetary reduction in the interim.

According to the analysis, global GDP growth is now only expected to reach 2.4% in 2025, down from 2.9% in 2024 and 0.4 percentage points below the January 2025 estimate.

“The world economy has been in a tense period. According to PTI, Shantanu Mukherjee, director of UN DESA’s Economic Analysis and Policy Division, stated at the press briefing that “we were expecting two years of stable, if subpar, growth in January of this year, and since then, prospects have diminished, accompanied by significant volatility across various dimensions.”

According to him, the world economy is expected to rise by 2.4% in 2025 and 2.5% in 2026.

“Compared to our January projections, this is a 0.4 percentage point annual change lower. According to PTI, Mukherjee said, “Although this is not a recession, the slowdown is affecting most countries and regions.”

Businesses are delaying or reducing important investment choices due to an unpredictable geopolitical environment and uncertainty surrounding trade and economic policy.

The paper said that these factors are further hurting chances for global growth by exacerbating already-existing issues, such as high debt levels and slow productivity growth.

The slowdown is widespread and impacts both developed and emerging countries, the research said. Higher tariffs and policy uncertainty are predicted to have a negative impact on private investment and consumption, causing the United States’ growth to sharply slow from 2.8% in 2024 to 1.6% in 2025.

This year, GDP in China is predicted to drop to 4.6%, a reflection of weak consumer mood, disruptions in export-oriented industries, and persistent difficulties in the real estate industry.

Growth downgrades are also being faced by a number of other significant emerging economies, such as South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil, as a result of declining commodity prices, sluggish investment, and deteriorating trade.

As these economies already struggle to make the investments required for long-term, sustainable development, “the tariff shock risks hitting vulnerable developing countries hard, slowing growth, slashing export revenues, and compounding debt challenges,” said Li Junhua, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations.

According to the report, the poor economic prognosis for many emerging nations jeopardizes opportunities to alleviate inequality, reduce poverty, and create employment. Declining export revenues, tightening financial conditions, and decreased official development assistance flows threaten to further erode fiscal space and increase the risk of debt distress for least-developed countries, where growth is predicted to slow from 4.5% in 2024 to 4.1% in 2025, according to PTI.

The multilateral trading system is being further strained by escalating trade frictions, which is further marginalizing small and fragile economies in a fragmented global environment. To overcome these obstacles, international collaboration must be strengthened.

It said that promoting sustainable and inclusive growth will require reviving the rules-based trade system and giving vulnerable nations focused assistance.