East Asia‘s emerging economies have suffered less than expected from higher oil prices and are expected to grow by an aggregate 6.6 per cent this year, the World Bank said yesterday in its latest twice-yearly update on the region.
接受调查的经济体去年总体增长(包括中国和韩国,但不包括日本)略微减缓至6.8%,而2004年为7.5%.2005年减速最明显的是东北亚和部分中等收入东南亚经济体,而印尼和越南则出现了增长加速,中国的增长保持强劲,达9.9%. Overall growth in the economies surveyed – including China and South Korea, but excluding Japan – slowed modestly to 6.8 per cent last year from 7.5 per cent in 2004. The 2005 slowdown was most evident in north-east Asia and some middle-income south-east Asian economies, whereas growth accelerated in Indonesia and Vietnam and remained strong at 9.9 per cent in China.
“The real surprise has been that the highest real oil prices in more than 25 years did not inflict more serious economic damage, with growth not falling below 4 per cent in any of the main economies of the region,” the report said.
该报告作者认为,油价目前已达峰值,但又表示,今年的平均油价预计仍将比去年高出10%. Its authors assume that oil prices have now peaked, but said prices were still expected to be 10 per cent higher on average this year than last.
由于出口增加,高科技产业强劲,中国进口需求上扬,去年下半年出现了经济复苏。世界银行的报告在回顾这一复苏时发出了一个警告,即除中国外,该地区2005年的固定投资增速已降至3.4%,而2004年为8.5%. Recalling the economic recovery in the second half of last year – led by rising exports, the strength of the high-technology sector and increased Chinese demand for imports – the World Bank nevertheless struck a note of caution about the weakening of fixed investment growth outside China to 3.4 per cent in 2005 from 8.5 per cent in 2004.
Fixed investment spending had rebounded in 2004 after an erratic and generally weak performance following the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98 and the “dotcom crash” five years ago.
Looking ahead, the report praised the “exceptional economic openness” of emerging east Asian nations but warned that this made the region particularly sensitive to global or cross-border trends.
On a more optimistic note, the World Bank also focused on the recent rise of technological innovation in east Asia. The annual number of patents registered at the US Patent Office by emerging east Asian economies rose from 197 in 1981-84 to more than 12,000 two decades later.