ISLAMABAD: The economic forecast for South Asia is predicted to continue robust, surpassing that of other areas. The most recent data from the UN projects that the GDP would expand by 5.8% in 2024 and 5.7% in 2025.
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) has released a report titled “World Economic Situation and Prospects September 2024 Update,” which highlights that while the region’s prospects are generally favorable, supply chains may be disrupted and commodity prices may experience volatility if geopolitical conflicts continue to escalate and unfavorable weather persists.
Japan’s GDP growth forecasts for developed Asia and the Pacific have been revised downward to 0.8 percent for 2024 and have remained steady at 1.1 percent for 2025. Although business confidence and corporate earnings have increased, private consumption is still low due to the fact that real wage growth has been negative since 2022. Australia’s and the Republic of Korea’s growth estimates for 2024 have been somewhat updated to 1.6 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
According to the assessment, which was made public on Tuesday, the global economy is now on a more stable course following years of upheaval and notable fluctuations in economic production. In spite of recent shocks, such as aggressive interest rate hikes by major central banks in 2022–2023 and an intensification of wars with global spillovers, the performance of global growth has remarkably held up.
Despite shocks, the UN maintains the global economy is headed toward greater stability.
Strong consumer spending, supported by strong employment rates, growing real incomes, and generally sound household balance sheets, has maintained economic resilience in a number of sizable established and developing nations. Monetary easing is now possible in many economies as inflation has significantly decreased and is getting closer to central bank targets. Most of the time, economies went through disinflation without a notable decline in the state of the labor market or a drop in economic activity.
In light of this, it is predicted that global growth would be constant in 2024 and 2025 at 2.7 percent. This indicates a 0.3 percentage point increase in 2024 compared to the January forecasts, primarily due to the US economy performing better than anticipated but also to better short-term growth prospects in other major economies, particularly Brazil, India, and the UK.
