Asia’s developing economies are set to grow faster than China this year, according to the Asian Development Bank on Wednesday, as Beijing continues to enforce its strict zero-Covid policy.
The Asian Development Bank now forecasts 4.3% growth in developing Asian economies in 2022 and 4.9% growth in 2023; however, excluding China, the group is expected to grow by 5.3% in 2022. In China, the bank projects 3.3% growth in 2022.
This will be the first time in over three decades that the rest of developing Asia will expand faster than China, the latest report by the Manila-based lender said.
“The last time was in 1990, when (China’s) growth slowed to 3.9% while GDP in the rest of the region expanded by 6.9%,” it said.
Both of these figures represent further reductions from previous projections; for example, its growth forecast for China was reduced from 5% to 4% in July. The Asian Development Bank said that was because of sporadic lockdowns caused by the country’s zero-Covid policy, problems in the property sector, and slower economic activity due to decreased external demand.
