WB: East Asia, Pacific economic growth to remain resilient

Illustrative image (Source: Internet)

Hanoi (VNA) -  Largedeveloping economies in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, will likely expandslightly faster in 2017-18, thanks to robustdomestic consumption, a gradual recovery in the global economy and commodityprices, the World Bank (WB) said in its East Asia and Pacific Economic Updatereport.

As a whole, the economiesof developing East Asia and Pacific are projected to expand at 6.2 percent in2017 and 6.1 percent in 2018, the report said.

Vietnam can maintain a stable growth speed over the longer term if the countrycontinues accelerating the restructuring to support its productivity-based growthmodel, it noted.

Vietnam’s economy was forecast to be stable in the coming time, with GDP growthexpected to expand gradually in 2017-2019 due to high domestic demand, and thecountry’s export-oriented processing and manufacturing activities.

VictoriaKwakwa, WB Vice President for East Asia and Pacific said “sound policies and agradual pickup in global economic prospects have helped developing countries inEast Asia and Asia-Pacific sustain growth and reduce poverty.”

However, she noted that the regions’ countries will need to reduce fiscalvulnerabilities while improving the quality of public spending and fostering globaland regional integration if they want to sustain this resilience.

Meanwhile, SudhirShetty, Chief Economist of the WB’s East Asia and Pacific Region, underlinedthe role played by policy makers in taking proper solutions to significantglobal uncertainties and domestic vulnerabilities.

“Policy makers should prioritise measures that counteract global risksthreatening the availability and cost of external finance, as well as exportgrowth” he said, adding that efforts should also be made to strengthen policyand institutional frameworks to spur increases in productivity.

The report said growth in the region will continue to be driven by strongdomestic demand, recovering global economy and rising material prices.

Risingemployment and incomes in the region is expected to pull more people out ofpoverty in the near term, it added.

The reportcalls for macroeconomic prudence to address the significant risks to theregion’s economic prospects.

 Across the region’s large economies,increasing fiscal revenues can help governments finance programs that boostgrowth and foster inclusion while reducing risks to fiscal sustainability, thereport said.

Inaddition, the report says policy makers should look forward to a moresustainable growth by take steps to reduce pollution caused by the intensive agriculturein the region.-VNA

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