WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The economies of East Asia will slow down, but still grow next year, though energy-hungry China will decelerate, the World Bank said Monday.
East Asian economies should experience a slower economic growth rate this year, but the pace picks up in 2015. For China, growth drops from 7.4 percent to 7.2 percent in 2015 as Beijing works to address financial vulnerabilities and build a more sustainable economic model, the bank said.
"East Asia-Pacific will continue to have the potential to grow at a higher rate -- and faster than other developing regions -- if policy makers implement an ambitious domestic reform agenda, which includes removing barriers to domestic investment, improving export competitiveness and rationalizing public spending," Axel van Trotsenburg, World Bank regional vice president, said in a statement.
In general, Asian economies are growing faster than the rest of the world, which in turn is tilting the poles of energy demand away from a North America relying more on its oil and gas reserves to satisfy its needs.
The International Energy Agency in its September oil market report trimmed oil demand growth for 2014 to 900,000 barrels of oil per day and 2015 to 1.2 million bpd.
IEA said the assessment was made "because of a pronounced slowdown in demand growth in the second quarter of this year and a weaker outlook for Europe and China."
