Basilio Sepe/BenarNews
Developing economies in Asia are forecast to rebound this year after contracting in 2020 amid the global COVID-19 outbreak, but the outlook depends on how fast governments can roll out vaccines, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday.
ADB’s projected growth of 7.3 percent for the entire region is higher than its 6.8 percent forecast last December, the Manila-based multilateral lending agency said in releasing its Asian Development Outlook report. The outlook for 2022 is expected to cool to 5.3 percent.
“The biggest risk to recovery is still the pandemic,” ADB chief economist Yasuyuki Sawada told a virtual news briefing. “New outbreaks continue, in part due to new variants. And many Asian economies face challenges in procuring and administering vaccines.”