Asia's economic growth shows great potential

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Asia is expected to be a major engine driving global sustainable recovery in the fast-changing world, said Li Baodong, Secretary General of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) at a press conference on April 18. 

Due to the pandemic, the economic growth rate of Asian economies in 2020 was -1.7 percent, down 5.7 percentage points from 2019, yet 3.0 percentage points higher than that of advanced economies, 5.3 percentage points higher than Latin America and the Caribbean, 0.2 percentage points higher than sub-Saharan Africa, and 0.3 percentage points higher than that of European developing economies, according to the Sustainable Development: Asia and the World Annual Report 2021 released at the press conference. 

As Asia’s largest economy, China led the continent with a growth rate of 2.3 percent in 2020. China was also one of the few Asian economies to achieve growth in trade last year. According to statistics from the World Trade Organization, merchandise trade volume in Asia fell by 7 percent in the first three quarters of 2020. China Customs data show that China’s total merchandise imports and exports grew by 1.5 percent, up to $4.65 trillion, in 2020, demonstrating the world’s largest trade volume. 

The foreign direct investment attracted by developing economies in Asia stood at $476 billion in 2020, dropping by 4 percent from the previous year, according to estimates from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. “Yet compared to the drop of 42 percent in global foreign direct investment, a mere 4-percent drop is truly a remarkable achievement to certain extent,” said Zhang Yuyan, Director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, at the press conference.  

Additionally, the pandemic has triggered the swift development of the digital economy and the emergence of relatively new business models like online offices and remote education. Zhang believed it to be highly likely that the future economic development model will become more and more digital and rely more and more on the Internet. The digital economy is likely to become an essential driving force behind Asia’s economic growth. 

The Asian Economic Outlook and Integration Progress Annual Report 2021, the other flagship report released during the press conference, said that more than 60 percent of surveyed business owners were optimistic about Asia’s economic recovery, and strong anti-pandemic measures and regional integration are expected to become the primary drivers of Asia’s economic recovery in the coming year. 

New regional cooperation initiatives, as well as effective pandemic control and economic revival in several Asian economies, will also play a key role in boosting regional growth. 

Founded in 2001, the BFA is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries closer to their development goals. 

The BFA Annual Conference 2021, held from April 18 to 21 at Boao, Hainan Province in south China, attracts more than 2,600 representatives and 1,200 journalists from over 60 countries and regions. The event is the world’s largest offline conference thus far this year. 

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