On December 14, 2021, the Asian Development Bank released its Asian Development Outlook Report and reduced its growth forecasts for developing Asia for year 2021.

Key Points

• This move came in line with the uncertainty that new Omicron coronavirus variant has brought.
• ADB now sees 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.0% for developing Asia, as opposed to 7.1% forecast.
• For 2022, it forecasted the growth of 5.3%.
• Most of developing Asia’s subregions are expected to grow slower than previous forecast in 2021.

ADB on China’s growth

ADB has projected China’s growth as 8.0% in 2021 and will slow down to 5.3% in 2022. China’s economy, which staged an impressive rebound from last year’s pandemic slump, has lost momentum in recent months as it grapples with surging prices, a slowing manufacturing sector, debt problems in the property market and persistent COVID-19 outbreaks.

ADB on India’s growth

The ADB has reduced its 2021 growth forecast to 9.7% for India as opposed to the 10.0% estimate of September 2021. However. 2022 growth forecast has been unchanged.