East Asia Update, October 2003 : From Cyclical Recovery to Long Run Growth

The region had already begun a cyclical recovery in 2002, but this was partially side-tracked by SARS - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - and other shocks in early 2003. East Asian growth fell to only 3 percent in the second quarter of 2003. On b...

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Main Author: World Bank
Format: Serial
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
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Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/711751468032401775/From-cyclical-recovery-to-long-run-growth-regional-overview
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33503
id okr-10986-33503
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-335032021-04-23T14:05:20Z East Asia Update, October 2003 : From Cyclical Recovery to Long Run Growth World Bank FINANCIAL CRISIS BUSINESS CYCLE ECONOMIC RECOVERY SERVICES TRADE SARS EPIDEMIC HEALTH POLICY REGIONAL INTEGRATION TRADE POLICY CAPITAL MARKETS EXCHANGE RATES FINANCIAL SECTOR REFORM CORPORATE PERFORMANCE PUBLIC GOVERNANCE ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC OUTLOOK FISCAL TRENDS The region had already begun a cyclical recovery in 2002, but this was partially side-tracked by SARS - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - and other shocks in early 2003. East Asian growth fell to only 3 percent in the second quarter of 2003. On balance, though, the impact of SARS was less than first feared, and growth projections for 2003 remain unchanged, compared with six months ago. Far from too little growth, China is in the midst of a powerful boom that has policy makers looking for ways to cool the pace of expansion in some sectors. On the other hand, export growth in most East Asian countries, slowed in the summer, and in some has yet to revive. These conflicting signals obscure somehow the near term outlook, but, on balance, prospects for East Asia are getting brighter. If the momentum of reform can be maintained, the region should be well placed to convert cyclical recovery into more sustained, long run growth. There are four sets of reasons for optimism: the global economy is improving, continued strong growth in China is propelling a vast expansion in its imports from the rest of East Asia, post-financial crisis " fire-fighting " seems to be behind, with domestic conditions in the region improving, and, the region is becoming more comfortable with representative forms of governance. However, two dangers deserve special attention: international trade is the life blood of East Asia, but the setback at the Cancun trade talks, might allow protectionist interests to go on the offensive, causing long term damage to the world trading system; and, within East Asia progress on institutional, and governance reforms has been slow, evidently hurting its competitive position in the world. Several priority policies are suggested, namely prudent macroeconomics, continued emphasis on strengthening financial sector supervision and regulation, corporate governance, and the supporting legal and judicial framework for the financial, and corporate sectors, as well as fostering the development of more diversified capital markets, to better handle different kinds of risks. The report also looks at the prospects for economic growth in the region, its poverty incidence, and at a more supportive international environment, pointing at improved confidence, demand, and activity, underpinned by supportive monetary, and fiscal policies adopted by many countries. Domestic trends and policy challenges convey gradual improvements in the financial sector, more active capital market development, improved corporate governance, and political transitions in several countries in the region. 2020-03-31T20:48:59Z 2020-03-31T20:48:59Z 2003-10 Serial http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/711751468032401775/From-cyclical-recovery-to-long-run-growth-regional-overview http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33503 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper East Asia and Pacific East Asia Oceania
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic FINANCIAL CRISIS
BUSINESS CYCLE
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
SERVICES TRADE
SARS EPIDEMIC
HEALTH POLICY
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
TRADE POLICY
CAPITAL MARKETS
EXCHANGE RATES
FINANCIAL SECTOR REFORM
CORPORATE PERFORMANCE
PUBLIC GOVERNANCE
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
FISCAL TRENDS
spellingShingle FINANCIAL CRISIS
BUSINESS CYCLE
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
SERVICES TRADE
SARS EPIDEMIC
HEALTH POLICY
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
TRADE POLICY
CAPITAL MARKETS
EXCHANGE RATES
FINANCIAL SECTOR REFORM
CORPORATE PERFORMANCE
PUBLIC GOVERNANCE
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
FISCAL TRENDS
World Bank
East Asia Update, October 2003 : From Cyclical Recovery to Long Run Growth
geographic_facet East Asia and Pacific
East Asia
Oceania
description The region had already begun a cyclical recovery in 2002, but this was partially side-tracked by SARS - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - and other shocks in early 2003. East Asian growth fell to only 3 percent in the second quarter of 2003. On balance, though, the impact of SARS was less than first feared, and growth projections for 2003 remain unchanged, compared with six months ago. Far from too little growth, China is in the midst of a powerful boom that has policy makers looking for ways to cool the pace of expansion in some sectors. On the other hand, export growth in most East Asian countries, slowed in the summer, and in some has yet to revive. These conflicting signals obscure somehow the near term outlook, but, on balance, prospects for East Asia are getting brighter. If the momentum of reform can be maintained, the region should be well placed to convert cyclical recovery into more sustained, long run growth. There are four sets of reasons for optimism: the global economy is improving, continued strong growth in China is propelling a vast expansion in its imports from the rest of East Asia, post-financial crisis " fire-fighting " seems to be behind, with domestic conditions in the region improving, and, the region is becoming more comfortable with representative forms of governance. However, two dangers deserve special attention: international trade is the life blood of East Asia, but the setback at the Cancun trade talks, might allow protectionist interests to go on the offensive, causing long term damage to the world trading system; and, within East Asia progress on institutional, and governance reforms has been slow, evidently hurting its competitive position in the world. Several priority policies are suggested, namely prudent macroeconomics, continued emphasis on strengthening financial sector supervision and regulation, corporate governance, and the supporting legal and judicial framework for the financial, and corporate sectors, as well as fostering the development of more diversified capital markets, to better handle different kinds of risks. The report also looks at the prospects for economic growth in the region, its poverty incidence, and at a more supportive international environment, pointing at improved confidence, demand, and activity, underpinned by supportive monetary, and fiscal policies adopted by many countries. Domestic trends and policy challenges convey gradual improvements in the financial sector, more active capital market development, improved corporate governance, and political transitions in several countries in the region.
format Serial
author World Bank
author_facet World Bank
author_sort World Bank
title East Asia Update, October 2003 : From Cyclical Recovery to Long Run Growth
title_short East Asia Update, October 2003 : From Cyclical Recovery to Long Run Growth
title_full East Asia Update, October 2003 : From Cyclical Recovery to Long Run Growth
title_fullStr East Asia Update, October 2003 : From Cyclical Recovery to Long Run Growth
title_full_unstemmed East Asia Update, October 2003 : From Cyclical Recovery to Long Run Growth
title_sort east asia update, october 2003 : from cyclical recovery to long run growth
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2020
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/711751468032401775/From-cyclical-recovery-to-long-run-growth-regional-overview
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33503
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