Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar rebuffed the statement made by US President Joe Biden, as reported by The Economic Times on Saturday, regarding the impediment of “xenophobia” on the economic progress of the South Asian nation. Speaking at a round table hosted by the newspaper on Friday, Jaishankar stated that India’s economy remains robust, dismissing any notion of faltering.
He highlighted India’s historical openness as a society, asserting that initiatives like the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) exemplify India’s willingness to welcome those in need, providing refuge to individuals fleeing persecution from neighboring countries.
Jaishankar’s remarks came in response to Biden’s recent comments, where he suggested that “xenophobia” in countries like China, Japan, and India was hindering their economic growth. Biden, speaking at a fundraising event for his 2024 re-election campaign and marking the start of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, praised the contribution of immigrants to the US economy, contrasting it with the perceived barriers to growth in other nations.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had previously forecasted a slowdown in growth for Asia’s three largest economies in 2024 compared to the previous year. Conversely, the IMF projected a modest growth rate of 2.7 percent for the US economy, slightly higher than the previous year’s 2.5 percent. Economists attribute this optimistic outlook in part to the contribution of migrants, who have played a role in expanding the labor force of the United States.
