In a rebuttal to recent comments made by US President Joe Biden, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar dismissed allegations of xenophobia hindering India’s economic progress, as reported by The Economic Times on Saturday.
Addressing a round table hosted by the newspaper on Friday, Jaishankar staunchly defended India’s economic trajectory, asserting that the nation’s economy was not faltering. He emphasized India’s historical openness as a society, stating, “That’s why we have the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), which is to open up doors for people who are in trouble.” The Act, he clarified, aims to provide citizenship to immigrants fleeing persecution from neighboring countries.
Biden had earlier remarked that “xenophobia” in China, Japan, and India was impeding the growth of their economies, contrasting it with the United States’ welcoming stance towards immigrants. Speaking at a fundraising event for his 2024 re-election campaign and marking the beginning of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Biden highlighted the positive impact of immigration on the US economy.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had recently forecasted a slowdown in growth for Asia’s three largest economies in 2024 compared to the previous year. However, the IMF projected a 2.7 percent growth for the US economy, slightly faster than its 2.5 percent rate in the preceding year. Economists often attribute the optimistic forecasts for the US economy in part to migrants contributing to the expansion of the labor force.
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