COVID-19 has delivered a triple shock to the developing East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region: the pandemic itself, the economic impact of containment measures, and reverberations from the global recession brought on by the crisis. Swift action will be needed to ensure that the pandemic does not hamper growth and increase poverty for years to come, according to From Containment to Recovery, the World Bank’s October 2020 Economic Update for East Asia and the Pacific.
Domestic economic activity is reviving in some countries that have so far contained the spread of the virus. But the region’s economy is heavily dependent on the rest of the world, and global demand remains subdued. The region as a whole is expected to grow by only 0.9 percent in 2020, the lowest rate since 1967. While China is forecast to grow by 2.0 percent in 2020 – boosted by government spending, strong exports, and a low rate of new COVID-19 infections since March, but checked by slow domestic consumption – the rest of the EAP region is projected to contract by 3.5 percent.
At this morning seminar, Ergys Islamaj, Senior Economist, Office of Chief Economist for East Asia and Pacific, World Bank, presented the report’s main findings.
Date/Time:
8am-9am, Friday October 9, 2020 (Japan Standard Time)
Speaker
He holds a PhD from Georgetown University. Prior to joining the World Bank, Ergys was an Assistant professor at Vassar College. He has published on behavior of consumption and investment growth in emerging markets and developing economies, risk sharing, remittances, and. growth spillovers His broader research agenda on exchange rate pass-through and its implications for monetary and fiscal policy, effects of financial crises on sectoral output and employment and the link between hedge fund behavior and return (in the US and emerging markets). |
Presentation material: East Asia and Pacific Economic Update October 2020: From Containment to Recovery (PDF)
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World Bank Group Morning Seminar