CONCERNS loomed large on India’s neutral ______1_______ over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, for its separation from the US led global market and eventually the _____2______ on its growth. In contrast, the situation took a reverse gear. India, not only sustained the growth, but is expecting the _____3_______ in the global growth in 2023. According to IMF’s World Economic Outlook, global growth was forecast to slow down to 3.2 percent in 2022, from 6 percent in 2021 and slip further to 1.3 percent in 2023. In contrast, India is expected to achieve 7 percent growth in GDP in 2023, which could be the highest in the world, surpassing China. The factors which affected the global growth _____4_____ inflation and energy crisis, as suggested by Outlook. Global inflation fell prey to the Ukraine war. It rose to 8.8 percent in 2022, from 4.7 percent in 2021. Energy prices rose up to 20 percent within five months of the outbreak of war in February 2022. Among the regions, Europe was the _______5_____ vulnerable to this war.