ASIAN MARKET OVERVIEW
The International Monetary Fund expects the Asia- Pacific region to grow by 4.6 per cent in 2023 and 4.2 per cent in 2024 .
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“ The Asia-Pacific region is facing challenges from persistent medium-term output losses and China ’ s structural slowdown , geoeconomic fragmentation and inflation .”
According to the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ), global growth is forecast to slow from 3.5 per cent in 2022 to three per cent in 2023 and 2.9 per cent in 2024 . The global outlook is supported by continued consumption dynamism in the U . S . but faces pressures from China ’ s worsening property crisis , tight policy stances around the world , the consequence of Russia ’ s war in Ukraine and growing
geoeconomic fragmentation . However , it has highlighted positive expected growth in the Asia-
Pacific region .
“ Despite a challenging global environment , the Asia-Pacific region remains a relatively bright spot . It is expected to grow by 4.6 per cent in 2023 and by 4.2 per cent in 2024 , which puts it on track to contribute to about two-thirds of global growth this year ,” commented Dr . Krishna Srinivasan , Director of the Asia and Pacific Department , International Monetary Fund , at a press briefing on 23 October 2023 .
Despite a challenging global environment , the Asia-Pacific region remains a relatively bright spot
Asian economies
“ The reopening of China ’ s economy has given the service sector and retail sales a boost as experienced by other economies . However , the benefit to the manufacturing sector is proving to be short-lived . The real-estate sector in China is grappling with further pressures on debt repayments , home sales and investment . Based on these weaknesses , we have revised down China ’ s growth forecast to five per cent for 2023 and 4.2 per cent for 2024 ,” continued Dr . Srinivasan .
“ In Japan , the economy is projected to grow by two per cent in 2023 . That ’ s a 0.7 percentage point increase from our April WEO forecast and reflects strong domestic demand as well as accommodative monetary and fiscal policies . India ’ s economic growth remains robust , driven by a large public capital expenditure push and resilient domestic demand . The economy is expected to grow by 6.3 per cent in both 2023 and 2024 ,” he added .
Although the downturn in technology exports is projected to dampen near-term growth momentum in South Korea , the IMF expects the economy to rebound next year as the technology cycle turns the corner .
46 | ismr . net | ISMR October 2023