IMPACT OF THE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS ON ASIA- PACIFIC ECONOMIES, PATTERNS OF RECOVERY, POLICY RESPONSES AND THE RELEVANCE OF REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Growth and inflation 2. Growth in Asia and the Pacific was severely impacted from the fourth quarter of 2008 onwards as the full effect of the slowdown in exports to developed countries was felt (see figure 1). Deceleration deepened in the first quarter of 2009. It appears that the trough of the growth slowdown was close to being reached by the second quarter of 2009 in major economies of the region. This was in tandem with the bottoming out of the growth and consumption slowdown in the world's developed countries. Looking ahead, it is expected that economic performance will continue to pick up for the rest of 2009. Some economies may be able to return to the path of economic expansion very soon, although the exceptionally low base of comparison for the last quarter of 2009 should be borne in mind. Using currently available data, the gross domestic product (GDP) of developing economies in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow by 3.4 per cent in 2009. This forecast is predicated on the assumption that the world economy stays firmly on the current stabilization path and growth in developed countries bottoms out in the remaining months of 2009.download