The World Bank has released its semi-annual economic outlook for the East Asia and Pacific region.
Accordingly, the report states that this year the East Asia and Pacific region is continuing to grow faster than the rest of the world, though the pace of growth is slower than before the pandemic. Moreover, the region is estimated to grow by 4.8 percent in 2024, with the rate of growth slowing to 4.4 percent next year.
However, the bank forecasts that the growth rate in China, which is the region’s largest economy, will decline to 4.3 percent in 2025 from a projected 4.8 percent this year, due to the ongoing weakness in the property market, low consumer and investor confidence, and global tensions.
Looking at the other economies in the region in question, their growth rate is expected to be 4.7 percent in 2024 and 4.9 percent in 2025, due to increasing domestic consumption and recovering goods exports. According to the report, only Indonesia is expected to grow in 2024 and 2025 at or above pre-pandemic levels, with Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam projected to be below those levels.
