Iran-Israel conflict, O.J. Simpson dies at 76, ADB pegs India’s GDP growth at 7% in 2024-25, and more | The week in 5 charts

Here are five charts that will help you understand some of the key stories from last week

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecast a 7% GDP growth for India in 2024-25, down from 7.6% in 2023-24. In 2025-26, it forecast a growth rate of 7.2%. For South Asia, the Bank forecast the GDP growth rate to be 6.3% this year and 6.6% the next. That made India the fastest-growing country in the sub-region.

India’s growth, the report said, will be driven by public and private sector investment demand and by gradual improvement in consumer demand as the rural economy improves. A normal monsoon weather forecast will help revive rural consumption. However, exports and Foreign Direct Investment will remain muted, the report said.

India’s growth, however, is not without risks. These risks include a sharp rise in oil prices or prolonged high interest rates in the West to tackle inflation. The report estimated that India’s economy would be the most affected because of this due to greater sensitivity of the rupee to western interest rates.

Also read | Risky premise: On Asian Development Bank forecast, India’s GDP growth

Tensions between Iran and Israel reached a culminating point late Saturday (April 13) when Iran launched drones on a first-ever full-scale military assault on Israel. Iran had been threatening to attack Israel ever since an airstrike last week killed two Iranian generals in Syria. Israel has not commented on that attack. but Iran accused Israel of being behind it.

The drone attack late Saturday marked the first time Iran had ever launched a full-scale military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In a statement carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged launching “dozens of drones and missiles towards the occupied territories and positions of the Zionist regime.” The statement did not elaborate.