On Thursday, the International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for growth in Asia for this year and next, reflecting the region's strong rebound from the depth of the global downturn in recent months.

"But," the New York Times reports that, "acknowledging the growing debate about whether the time is right to unwind some of the extensive stimulus measures that have been put in place around the globe, the fund added that in most of Asia in return to higher interest rates was 'unnecesary' now."

The I.M.F. released its economic outlook for Asia and the Pacific region in Seoul; and it anticipates the region as a whole, which includes Japan, Australia and New Zealand, to manage growth of 2.8 percent this year and 5.8 percent in 2010 - in both instances about one and a half percentage points better than it had projected in May.

The pace is significantly better than is expected in the most developed nations: The I.M.F. forecasts the Group of 7 to grow just 1.3 percent next year.

The I.M.F. said in its report that, "just as the U.S. downturn triggered an outsized fall in Asia's GDP, because international trade and finance froze, now their normalization is generating an outsized Asian upturn. For this reason, the rebound in economic activity has been fastes in the export-dependent Asian economies that were hit most severly at the end of 2008."

The NY Times quotes the report as adding that, "as U.S. electronics retailers continue to rebuild their inventories, Asian exports wil continue to recover - a process that could go on for some time, since U.S. imports are exceptionally low relative to sales, suggesting that retailers will need to step up their orders sharply to replenish their supplies."

China will most likely experience the fastest growth - 8.5 percent this year and 9 percent in 2010 - while India is anticipated to grow 5.4 percent in 2009 and 6.4 percent next year, as disclosed by the I.M.F.'s new forecasts.

By contrast, Japan terribly trails the region: It's economy is expected to contract 5.4 percent this year and accomplish only 1.7 growth in 2010.

To read the entire article from the New York Times, link here:

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Comments (0)

Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.
	Add Comment