Asia Development Outlook April 2023

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) released its Asian Development Outlook on April 4, 2023. The report forecasts for developing Asia, a group comprising 46 economies in the Asia-Pacific region, to grow in 2023 and 2024 at 4.8 per cent, representing an upward revision of 0.6 percentage points above the previous estimates. According to ADB, China's recovery after abandoning its zero-COVID policy in December will drive the region's growth in 2023. Excluding China, the region's growth is projected to be 4.6 per cent in 2023, slower than the 5.4 per cent registered in 2022.

Inflation is expected to fall from 4.4 per cent in 2022 to 4.2 per cent in 2023 and gradually move closer to pre-pandemic levels of around 3.3 per cent in 2024.

By subregion, the growth for 2023 is forecast to be the fastest in South Asia, with a projected growth rate of 5.5 per cent, followed by Southeast Asia at 4.7 per cent, East Asia at 4.6 per cent, Caucasus and Central Asia at 4.4 per cent, and the Pacific at 3.3 per cent.

The ADB forecasts that China's economy will grow by 5 per cent in 2023 and 4.5 per cent in 2024.

For members of the ASEAN-5 growth in 2023 is expected as follows: Vietnam (6.5 per cent), Philippines (6 per cent), Cambodia (5.5 per cent), Indonesia (4.8 per cent) and Thailand (3.3 per cent).