The World Bank downgraded East Asia and Pacific growth forecast in 2018 from 6.6% to 6.3%. It also projected growth to further slow to 6.0% in 2019, down graded from 6.1%. For China, growth is projected to slow to 6.5% in 2018, unrevised. But China’s growth projection in 2019 was revised lower from 6.3% to 6.2%.
Sudhir Shetty, World Bank chief economist for East Asia and Pacific region, noted that “the main risks to continued robust growth include an escalation in protectionism, heightened financial market turbulence, and their interaction with domestic fiscal and financial vulnerabilities”.
And, he added, “in this context of rising risks, developing EAP economies need to utilize the full range of available macroeconomic, prudential, and structural policies to smooth external shocks and raise potential growth rates.”
