ADB to Reduce Average 2001 Growth Forecast for Southeast Asia
By Yoolim Lee
Kuala Lumpur, April 7 (Bloomberg) -- The Asian Development Bank will lower its average forecast for economic growth in 10 countries of Southeast Asia this year to reflect the sharper than expected slowdown in the U.S., a bank official said.
Economies of members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will grow an average of about 4 percent this year, less than the 5 percent growth forecast in November, said Hisashi Ono, senior executive advisor to the president of the Asian Development Bank.
``The 1 percentage point cut reflects slower U.S. economic growth and the downturn of the electronics cycle,'' Hisashi told Bloomberg News during a weekend meeting of Asean's finance ministers. The new forecasts will be released on April 19, Ono said.
Economies across the region are slowing as the U.S. curtails orders for electronics goods produced by countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. Ono said average growth in the region should rise to 5 percent next year.
China's growth will probably dip to 7 percent this year from last year's 8 percent, Ono said. China is generally considered less dependent on exports to the U.S. because of its large domestic market.
Malaysia, which ships one-fifth of its exports to the U.S., recently reduced its growth forecast for this year to between 5 percent and 6 percent from a previous forecast of 7 percent. Last year, Malaysia's economy expanded 8.5 percent.
Asean finance ministers are meeting this weekend in Kuala Lumpur to discuss ways of dealing with the region's economic slowdown and hammer out a network of agreements to swap foreign currency reserves in case of a financial crisis.
The 10 Asean members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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