Growth in developing economies in East Asia is set to ease moderately in 2016-18 as the region still faces elevated risks stemming from easing China's expansion, the World Bank said Monday.
In the latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update, the lender urged the authorities to prioritize monetary and fiscal policies that help to reduce vulnerabilities.
Growth in developing East Asia is expected to slow to 6.3 percent in this year from 6.5 percent in 2015. The figure is forecast to ease further to 6.2 percent in 2017-18.
In October, the Washington-based World Bank had projected 6.4 percent growth for this year and 6.3 percent for 2017.
"The region has benefited from careful macroeconomic policies, including efforts to boost domestic revenue in some commodity-exporting countries," Victoria Kwakwa, incoming World Bank East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice President, said.
"But sustaining growth amid challenging global conditions will require continued progress on structural reforms."
The forecast reflects China's gradual shift to slower, more sustainable growth, expected to be 6.7 percent this year, and 6.5 percent in 2017. The estimates for the country were unchanged.
The rest of developing east Asia grew 4.7 percent in 2015, and the pace of growth will pick up slightly to 4.8 percent in 2016 and 4.9 percent in 2017-18, driven by growth in the large Southeast Asian economies, the lender said.
The World Bank expects the Philippines and Vietnam to post the strongest growth among the large developing Southeast Asian economies. Both economies are expected to grow by more than 6 percent this year.
For Indonesia, growth was forecast at 5.1 percent this year and 5.3 percent in 2017, contingent on the success of recent reforms and implementation of an ambitious public investment program.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com