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Asian Development Outlook 2006
This 18th edition of the Asian Development Outlook provides a comprehensive economic analysis of 43 economies in developing Asia and the Pacific. Using the Asian Development Bank's unique knowledge of the region, it examines trends and prospects in Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, in the context of global economic movements. An important theme is how developing Asia can best position itself to maximize the benefits of international trade. Aggregate gross domestic product for the region expanded by a robust 7.4% in 2005. Growth was underpinned by a favorable external environment and by continuing progress on domestic reform issues. The People's Republic of China and India both grew rapidly. Looking forward, the baseline projection is for continued robust growth. It will be helped by broadly favorable global conditions, but sustainability will depend on how well countries address their key-often differing-constraints. For many countries, a key challenge is to reignite investment demand and to ensure that domestic savings are put to good use. The special chapter, Routes for Asia's Trade, explores the region's trade opportunities, which will be shaped by a variety of factors. Prospects for the world economy and the outcome of the Doha Round of trade negotiations will clearly be important, as will any future initiatives on multilateral liberalization. Regionally, agreements for forging closer cooperation and deeper integration could prove supportive. Motivated by a range of interests, countries within the region are now pursuing bilateral trade (and investment) agreements as well-often with partners from outside the region. A critical challenge will be to minimize inconsistencies between the multilateral and the bilateral approaches to trade liberalization.
Contents
Foreword, Acknowledgments, Contents, Definitions, Acronyms and Abbreviations [ PDF: 277kb | 10 pages ]
Statistical appendix [ PDF: 320kb | 30 pages ] © 2006 Asian Development Bank All rights reserved. Published 2006. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ISBN: 971-561-603-8 Asian Development Bank |
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