India, China important engines of regional and global economic growth: IMF

India and China have been important engines of regional and global economic growth, a top official of International Monetary Fund (IMF) said today, noting that a strong economic partnership between the two Asian giants would be beneficial.

"For the past several years, India and China have been important engines of regional and global economic growth. In 2017, India and China were responsible for almost half of global growth," Tao Zhang, IMF Deputy Managing Director, told PTI in an interview ahead of his visit to India.

The IMF, he said, strongly believes that the world benefits if individual countries implement sound stability-oriented macroeconomic policies and reduce barriers to trade and investment.

"A strong economic partnership between India and China would be beneficial, and their collaboration is welcome. The BRICS and G20 summits are good examples," Zhang said when asked about the impact these two economies collectively have on the global economy.