East Asian economies forecast to expand 6.5 percent in 2000

East Asian economies forecast to expand 6.5 percent in 2000

TOKYO (AFP): East Asia's 10 biggest economies, excluding Japan, are forecast to expand 6.5 percent in 2000 as they steadily recover from financial crises, a Tokyo thinktank said Wednesday.

"The region's economic growth rate increased from 1.0 percent in 1998 to an estimated 6.2 percent this year, indicating that the region has overcome the financial crisis and moved into a phase of economic recovery," the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE) said.

IDE attributed the 1999 real-term gross domestic product (GDP) growth to the recovery of the global market for semiconductors and other electronic products, the stronger U.S. economy, recovery in Japan and the yen's surge against the dollar.

In a report, the government-financed thinktank also cited "synergistic effects of economic recovery within the region."

The report said, "Compared to 1998, when six of the economies contracted, expansion by all 10 this year shows that East Asia has recovered from its financial crisis."

The 10 economies are China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

In 1999, the newly industrialized economies -- Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan -- grew at a combined rate of 6.2 percent in terms of gross domestic product, the report said.

The combined GDP growth of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam -- all members of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) -- was 2.9 percent.

China continued its fast pace of growth at a rate of 7.5 percent, the report said.

The thinktank forecast the East Asian economies would grow steadily in 2000 on the basis of forecasts that "the world's most industrialized nations would grow at about the same pace as that in 1999 and that the global market for electronic products would expand further."

It estimated the combined GDP growth of the newly industrialized economies at 5.7 percent -- 3.2 percent for Hong Kong, 6.4 percent for South Korea and 6.3 percent for Singapore and 6.1 percent for Taiwan.

The five ASEAN nations are expected to post a combined 4.9 percent -- 4.5 percent for Indonesia, 5.6 percent for Malaysia, 4.6 percent for the Philippines, 4.9 percent for Thailand and 5.1 percent for Vietnam.

China's economy was expected to grow 7.8 percent in 2000, the highest rate among the 10 nations, largely due to growing exports and active fiscal measures, the report said.