World Bank: East Asian growth to tick down

Economic growth in the developing East Asia countries will tick down this year, according to projections the World Bank released Monday.

{mosads}Still, the bank projects that the economies of China and the rest of the developing Pacific Rim will continue to grow more quickly than anywhere else in the world – 6.9 percent in both this and next year.

East Asian economies grew at a 7.2 percent clip in 2013, the World Bank said. China’s economy will slow a bit in both 2014 (7.4 percent) and 2015 (7.2 percent), the bank added. The other countries in the region will bounce back to 5.3 percent growth next year, after falling to 4.8 percent in 2014.

“East Asia Pacific will continue to have the potential to grow at a higher rate – and faster than other developing regions – if policy makers implement an ambitious domestic reform agenda, which includes removing barriers to domestic investment, improving export competitiveness and rationalizing public spending,” the bank’s Axel van Trotsenburg said in a statement.

According to the bank, Cambodia, China, Malaysia and Cambodia are best positioned to take advantage of trade opportunities in the global economy. Indonesia, on the other hand, is expected to see growth drop this year. 

The American economy grew 4.6 percent in this year’s second quarter, after contracting the first three months of the year. 

Poverty rates in East Asia have declined in recent years, but the World Bank says the region still needs to do more to broaden out economic opportunities for large chunks of its population.