Asian Development Bank COVID-19 outlook

The Asian Development Bank has released the new outlook on how the COVID-19 outbreak has affected the different economies. Looking at the new forecasted GDP growth is clear that the epidemic has had a dramatic negative impact on the growth of each economy and disrupted businesses and other economic activities. Overall, ADB revised its estimations for the Asian developing regions and forecasts a regional growth of 2.2% for the year 2020, down compared to the 5.2% growth rate estimated in the previous outlook dated December 2019. The ADB’s projections show that the developing economies in East Asia have been more equipped to handle the effects of the pandemic compared to the ASEAN economies in the Southeast part of Asia. China is expected to grow by 2.3% in 2020, having promptly implemented a wide range of supporting measures for the enterprises and already resumed the majority of its economic activities since the end of February. The manufacturing and service sectors are gradually recovering, and the business activities expectation is increasing. Despite the expected slowdown during the year, the Chinese economy would bounce back in 2021, with a GDP growth forecast of 7.3%.