The economic slowdown in the US and Europe will hit Asian growth this year, a senior World Bank official said on Thursday, according to The World Bank Press Review.
– There is a high probability that there will be some reduction in growth rates, James Adams, Vice-President for East Asia and the Pacific told.
The developing economies of the Asia-Pacific region are expected to grow at a slightly slower but still robust 7.7 percent in 2008,’ the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) said in its annual report on Thursday.
It said China and India, the region’s locomotives, are likely to maintain brisk growth, at a pace of 10.7 percent and 9.0 percent, respectively, for 2008 and will continue to support the regional economy.
FØDEVAREPRISER BEKYMRER
The UN panel report said food prices are likely to remain high, and they pose a greater inflationary risk in a region where food accounts for a far higher proportion of consumer spending.
Soaring food prices were a major concern, UN officials said, while agriculture was in need of drastic reform, with government neglect of the sector helping keep 641 million people in the region in poverty.
In addition, sovereign wealth funds in the region are increasingly being tapped to help bolster weakened banks in the US and Europe
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
