By PhilExport News and Features

03 November 2018

Published also in Business Mirror

THE Philippines and three other Southeast Asian countries, and newly industrialized economies, are expected to provide a boost to developing Asia’s trade growth this year, a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.

“Imports to these economies will be buoyed by robust domestic demand, while exports will benefit from growing intraregional demand,” the Asian Economic Integration Report 2018 (AEIR) noted.

The ADB report said the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will remain the key driver of developing Asia’s trade growth, while economies of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand as well as Hong Kong, China; the Republic of Korea; Singapore; and Taipei, China can also step up growth.

This happened as developing Asia’s trade is expected to grow albeit at a slower pace.

The report identified the escalating trade friction between the United States and the PRC as the key risk to the trade volume projection.

World trade growth is also expected to slow moderately from 4.7 percent in 2017 to 4.5 percent in 2018 as growth eases in some advanced economies, likely to affect exports of emerging and developing economies, as well.

Meanwhile, the report underscored the importance of regional integration in Asia as development strategy.