According to the Asian Development Bank, weak export demand from major industrial economies and China will continue to bring down economic growth throughout many regions in Asia next year.
Asia's economies –excluding Japan- will grow 6% this year and 6.6% in 2013, said ADB. Both figures are 0.1 percentage point lower than forecasted in October.
ADB Chief Economist Changyong Rhee said: “Enduring debt problems and economic weakness in Europe and the looming fiscal in the United States remain very real threats to developing Asia next year”.
While India, South Korea and the two largest Central Asian and Caucasus economies –Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan- have experience an surprising slower growth, other economies, such as the Philippines and Malaysia, have seen a more rapid expansion.
As China's industrial production bounced back, its economy should expand as forecasted, which is 7.7% in 2012 and 8.1% in 2013, ADB said.
East Asian economies continue to be pulled down by weak external demand from industrial nations and China. Consequently, the ADB revised growth prospects for the region, which went down by 0.1% (from 6.5% to 6.4% in 2012; and from 7.1% to 7% in 2013).
Similarly, South Korea experienced its slowest growth since the third quarter of 2009, as it grew 1.6% in the third quarter from a year ago.
General growth in Southeast Asia may hit 5.3% in 2012 and 5.5% in 2013. The top five regional economies –Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines- will grow 5.9% in 2012 and 5.8% next year.