WASIC Goal: South and Southeast Asia
As COVID-19 spreads across the region, South Asia and Southeast Asia’s economic outlook is dire.
South Asia
As COVID-19 spreads across the region, South Asia’s economic outlook is dire.
The region will likely experience its worst economic performance in the last 40 years, with temporary contractions in all eight countries.
According to the latest Global Economic Prospects, GDP in the region is projected to contract by 2.7 percent in 2020 as pandemic mitigation measures hinder consumption and services activity and uncertainty about the course of the pandemic chills private investment.
In India, growth is estimated to have slowed to 4.2 percent in FY 2019/20, which ended in March 2020. Output is projected to contract by 3.2 percent in FY 2020/21, when the impact of the pandemic will largely hit. Pakistan (-2.6 percent in FY 2019/20) and Afghanistan (-5.5 percent) are both projected to experience contractions, as mitigation measures are anticipated to weigh heavily on activity. Growth in Bangladesh (1.6 percent in FY 2019/20) and Nepal (1.8 percent in FY 2019/20) is expected to decelerate markedly due to pandemic-related disruptions including mitigation measures and sharp falls in exports and remittance inflows…
Southeast Asia
In their decades-long efforts to spur strong economic growth and significantly reduce poverty, countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also successfully improved education and health outcomes for their people. Today, however, ASEAN’s average indicators on education, skills development, and health are below what is expected of its current income levels. These persistent gaps can undermine future growth and prosperity in the region.
To thrive in the global economy, where new technologies will create industries that have yet to be imagined, and where the changing nature of work prizes higher-order skills, ASEAN countries will have to go back to basics – and invest in its children.
(source: The World Bank in South Asia)
(source: The World Bank in Southeast Asia)
(Photo courtesy of Danurwendho Adyakusuma on Unsplash)
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