29-Oct-2025 11:16

International Monetary Fund or IMF offered a briefing on Asia and Pacific Department Regional Economic Outlook yesterday. It noted that as also emphasized last week during Annual Meetings, is that economic activity in the world, in particular also in the Asia-Pacific, has held up better than expected despite the US tariffs and continued higher trade policy. IMF projects the region to grow by 4.5 percent in 2025, that's broadly unchanged from last year, and then moderate to 4.1. Inflation is quite different across the region but the region is once again set to contribute the lion's share of global growth, about 60 percent of this year and the next. IMF noted that Asia is still growing very fast though it is slower growth than it was before the pandemic. So average growth in Asia has also decreased relative to the pre-pandemic period. And there are a number of factors that are a concern from a growth perspective, aging populations, weaker productivity, economic scars from the pandemic, and rising youth unemployment, long-term dissatisfaction, and the lack of jobs and opportunities. IMF further noted that Asia needs to boost capital efficiencies.

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