The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Mar. 31 that growth in Asia's developing economies this year would fall to 3.4 percent, according to news reports.
Growth will slide to just 3.4 percent this year, down from 6.3 percent last year and 9.5 percent in 2007, the bank said in its annual Asian Development Outlook. If the global economy experiences a mild recovery next year, the outlook for the region will improve to 6 percent in 2010, it added.
With the slow growth, more than 60 million people in 2009, and close to 100 million people in 2010 in the region will remain trapped in poverty, the bank said.
“The short-term outlook for the region is bleak as the full impact of the severe recession in industrialised economies is transmitted to emerging markets," ADB acting chief economist Jong-Wha Lee was cited as saying.
China, which has been the powerhouse behind the region's stellar performance in the last decade, will grow at 7.0 percent this year, it said.
Despite the dismal outlook, ADB said that the region is in a much better position to cope with the ongoing global crisis than it was in the previous crisis in 1997./.