A cargo vessel at Pasir Panjang Terminal of Singapore (Photo: AFP/VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Singapore and other Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economies are seeingdowngrades to their 2023 growth outlooks because slowing global growth willoutweigh the positive impact from China's economic reopening, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said on January 31.
The above-mentioned factor prompted the IMFto reduce Singapore's GDP growth outlook for 2023 to 1.5% from a 2.3% projection issued last October, he told a news briefing on the IMF's latest global growthforecasts.
The forecast for ASEAN-5, namely Singapore,Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, was cut to 4.3% from 4.5%. The group's 2024 economic growth is predicted to go down by 0.2 percentage point to 4.7%.
Daniel Leigh, chief of theresearch department at the IMF said ASEAN is unlikely to maintain its growth pace as in 2022, with a rate of 5.2% while noting the surprising speed with China's reopening this year. However, he noted that geopolitical fragmentation remains negative foreveryone, although some economies benefit from supply chains relocating outof China.
Earlier on the same day, the IMF releasedits World Economic Outlook report, which raised its forecast for globaleconomic growth in 2023 due to a "surprising recovery" in demand inthe US and Europe, declining energy costs, and China's reopening.
It believes global growth will fallfrom 3.4% in 2022 to 2.9% in 2023, but still higher than the 2.7% predicted inOctober 2022. It also revised its forecasts for a number of major economiessuch as the US, the Eurozone, the UK, China and India. The UK is the only majordeveloped economy that is predicted to bein recession this year, with GDP to shrink 0.6% as households struggle to copewith rising costs of living./.
