NEW DELHI: Ratings firm Moody's Investors Service lowered India's economic growth projection for the current year (2022) to 7% from 7.7% projected earlier.

"For India, the 2022 real GDP growth projections have been lowered to 7 per cent from 7.7 per cent. The downward revision assumes higher inflation, high-interest rates and slowing global growth will dampen economic momentum by more than we had previously expected," it said in its Global Macro Outlook 2023-24.

The New York-based agency expects growth to decelerate to 4.8 per cent in 2023, and to rise to 6.4 per cent in 2024.

Moody's attributed the downturn and uncertainty in the global economy, adding that the worldwide economy is on the verge of a downturn amid extraordinarily high levels of uncertainty amid persistent inflation, monetary policy tightening, fiscal challenges, geopolitical shifts and financial market volatility.

In September, the firm cut projections for the current year to 7.7 per cent from 8.8 per cent it estimated in May due to external headwinds like slowing economic growth and rigid monetary policies worldwide impacting the country.

It also forecasted that the global growth would slow in 2023 and remain flat in 2024. Further it indicated that a period of relative stability might emerge by 2024 in case governments and central banks would be able to navigate their economies through the current challenges.