The Asian Development Bank (ADB) released the 2023 Asian Development Outlook (ADO)[1]on December 13 and key messages are as follows.

The ADB raised its 2023 growth outlook for Asia by 0.2 percentage points from its September forecast, boosted by a recovery in domestic consumption, strong performance in the service sector, revival in manufacturing, and upward adjustments of China and India’s growth rates. The growth rate for 2024 stands at 4.8%, remaining unchanged from the previous estimate.

In addition, the inflation rate in the Asian region has been adjusted to 3.5% for 2023, down by 0.1 percentage points compared to that of the September’s projection. Inflation for 2024 has been revised upward by 0.1 percentage points to 3.6%.

The ADB noted several risk factors for developing Asia going forward, including monetary policies in advanced economies such as the U.S., and Eurozone, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, El Nino effects and regional food export restrictions, as well as China’s real estate market.

The ADB also predicted the Korean economy to grow by 1.3% in 2023 and 2.2% in 2024, as projected in the previous outlook, amid a mixture of upward factors such as exports recovery and downside factors including global economic uncertainty.

Korea’s inflation rates in 2023 and 2024 have been revised up by 0.3 percentage points each, due to sustained upward pressure on core inflation, mainly driven by the surge in global energy and food prices.

Further information about the ADO December 2023 is available from the Asian Development Bank at www.adb.org

[1] 46 member states in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Please refer to the attached files.