Washington, D.C
International-Monetary-FundThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised down its 2020 forecast for the Asian economy to a contraction of 2.2 percent, calling it “the worst outcome for this region in living memory.”
The latest forecast is a downgrade compared with the projection of a 1.6 percent contraction in June.
The IMF’s latest Regional Economic Outlook shows that a recovery started in the third quarter, though growth engines are not all firing with the same strength across all countries, leading to a “multispeed recovery,” Jonathan D.Ostry, acting director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, said during a virtual news conference.
The outlook varies by country depending on infection rates and containment measures, the scale and effectiveness of the policy response, reliance on contact-intensive activities, and reliance on external demand, according to the report.
Advanced economies, while still in recession, are expected to do somewhat better than expected in 2020, reflecting a faster pickup in activity following earlier exit from lockdowns, Ostry noted.
Australia will see a contraction of 4.2 percent in 2020, and Japan’s economy will shrink by 5.3 percent. South Korea will contract by 1.9 percent, while New Zealand is expected to see a sharp contraction of 6.1 percent.—Agencies