World Bank fears virus will damage Asia’s economy

WASHINGTON: The World Bank is estimating that the coronavirus outbreak will cause economic growth to slow significantly this year in China and other East Asian-pacific countries, throwing millions into poverty.

Under a worse-case scenario, the region could suffer its sharpest downturn since a devastating currency crisis more than two decades ago, the bank said in an updated forecast released Monday.

The bank’s report projects that growth in the region would slow to 2.1% this year from 5.8% in 2019 under a “baseline” forecast in which economic recovery takes hold this summer.

But under a worse case, in which the adverse effects of the virus spillover into next year, the region’s economy would contract 0.5%, the bank estimates. That would represent the weakest performance for the region since the 1997-98 Asian currency crisis, which plunged 40% of the globe into recession.

More than 11 million people could fall into poverty in the region under the worse-case scenario, the bank estimates. That’s in stark contrast to its earlier forecast that growth would be sufficient this year to lift 35 million people out of poverty.

A slowdown of the size being projected by the World Bank for such a critical part of the global economy would have severe effects for the rest of the world.

WHO WARNS `FAR FROM OVER’ IN ASIA, PACIFIC JAKARTA: The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that while attention has shifted to epicenters in Western Europe and North America, Covid-19 epidemics are “far from over” in Asia and the Pacific.

Urging governments at all levels in the region to stay engaged in efforts to combat the virus, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, Takeshi Kasai says, “This is going to be a longterm battle and we cannot let down our guard. We need every country to keep responding according to their local situation.” He said the WHO realises there is no one-size-fits-all approach but there are common tactics.