East Asia to post lower growth of 7.6% in 2012: World Bank

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Growth in developing East Asia and Pacific is slowing and the region is expected to post 7.6 per cent expansion in 2012 compared to 8.2 per cent in 2011, a World Bank report said on Wednesday.

Although growth in the region has slowed from its post- crisis peaks with China pulling down much of the regional aggregate, it remains strong, it added.

With the global slowdown expected to continue, the region needs to reduce its reliance on exports and find new sources of growth, said the report on the regional development.

One specific area of this year's growth for the region is that the poverty continues to fall with the number of people living on less than USD 2 per day expected to decrease by 24 million this year, it said.

Overall, the number of people living in poverty has been cut in half in the last decade in East Asia and Pacific, Pamela Cox, World Bank East Asia and Pacific regional vice-president said.

"Despite this success, about one-third of the people in the region, roughly half a billion men, women and children still live in poverty.''

"In an uncertain global environment, more needs to be done to create new sources of growth that provide opportunities for all," the Bank's press release here quoted her as saying.

Regarded as one of the fastest growing areas in the world, East Asia grew by 8.2 per cent last year, a sharp decline from the nearly 10 per cent growth rate recorded in 2010.

This was largely due to lower growth in manufacturing exports as well as supply disruptions in the wake of the Japan earthquake and Tsunami and severe flooding in Thailand, Lao, and Cambodia, the report said.

Domestic demand and investment were generally strong and aided by easing of monetary policy in some countries.

For 2012, the Bank expects that East Asia will remain the strongest performing region, even though annual growth will further moderate as a result of a continued weak external environment, it said.

Developing East Asia is projected to grow by 7.6 per cent in 2012, with slower expansion in China pulling down much of the regional aggregate.