TOKYO, May 23 (UPI) -- The World Bank says economic weakness in China due to a drop in demand for exports is weighing on projected economic growth for the East Asia-Pacific region.
Growth is projected to slow to 7.6 percent this year, down from 8.2 percent in 2011 and 10 percent in 2010, the bank said Wednesday in a regional update.
The World Bank, which invests in developing countries, said countries in East Asia and Pacific need to rely less on exports and more on domestic demand to maintain high growth.
"With the global slowdown expected to continue, the region needs to reduce its reliance on exports and find new sources of growth," the bank said in a statement.
The growth rate, however, is still impressive on a global scale, the report said. In 2011, growth was about 2 percentage points higher than the developing country average worldwide, and poverty continues to fall.
"The number of people living on less than $2 a day is expected to decrease in 2012 by 24 million. Overall the number of people living in poverty has been cut in half in the last decade in East Asia and Pacific," World Bank East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice President Pamela Cox said. "Despite this success, about one-third of the people in the region, roughly half a billion men, women and children still live in poverty."
The bank said slowing growth in 2011 was largely due to lower than expected growth in manufacturing exports as well as supply disruptions in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, as well as severe flooding in Thailand.
Domestic demand and investment were generally strong, aided by loosening of monetary policy in some countries, the report said.
