World Bank Annual Report: East Asia & Pacific driving global economy
Updated 22:40, 27-Apr-2019
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02:40
The World Bank says in a new report that turbulence looms ahead for the East Asia and Pacific regional economy. Tony Cheng reports from Bangkok.
It's the region that contains the fastest growing economies in the world. Fueled by a rising China and feeding the global supply chain, East Asia and the Pacific has been driving the global economy. But what challenges lie ahead? The world bank released its annual report on the region's economic prospects on Wednesday and the title "managing headwinds" suggests it will not be smooth sailing for the next 12 months.
ANDREW MASON CHIEF ECONOMIST FOR EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC,WB  "Being a very export orientated set of economies when growth softens in other places then demand for the things this region produces and exports goes down."
And the restructuring of China's economy is having a trickle down impact in ASEAN.
ANDREW MASON WORLD BANK ECONOMIST "The countries with China and Southeast Asia, it's neighbors, are tightly linked in the global value chain and so the welfare of one is intricately linked to the welfare or another through investment production and exports."
The biggest obstacle to regional growth, however, is the ongoing trade war between China and the U.S.
DONALD TRUMP US PRESIDENT "Look, we're going to win either way. We're either going to win by getting a deal, and we also win if we don't get a deal, because we do other things."
Nebulous statements like that are causing considerable unease in the global supply chain.
Countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia could be badly affected if trade barriers and tariffs are more frequently deployed. And at the moment there is no truce in sight.
AMORNTHEP CHAWALA SENIOR ECONOMIST, CIMB "No easy exit and it cannot be resolved within a year or two and it's going to be ongoing. The trade war is going to be with us for a long time. And it's not just about the trade war trying to cut the deficit between the U.S. and China. There's something behind it which is technology. Who's going to be the superpower of technology?"
TONY CHENG BANGKOK PTC "The prediction from the world bank is that while growth is likely to slow down over the next 12 months, it is going to continue, and economic growth over the next 12 months in this region remains solid. The one question they have is about trade conflicts continuing to upset the relationship between some of those major trading nations and here in a part of the world that is fundamental to the global supply chain, that could be a very big problem. TONY CHENG, CGTN, BANGKOK."