The Asian Development Bank
(ADB) forecasts that the Sri Lankan economy will continue to grow by 7.2% in 2014 strongly while other parts of the South Asian countries
will see softer-than-anticipated growth.
ADB also predicts country’s economy is growing
by 6.8% in 2013 on
the back of a strong performance in the first quarter of the year. The expected healthy growth in 2014 will be supported by further monetary
easing and improved electricity generation that will power growth in domestic
industry in the recent report realised this week.
By contrast, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and
Pakistan are expected to report softer growth in 2013 than in the previous year
as some of these countries face political transitions that could hamper
economic policy making, the ADB report said. The ADB’s latest forecast
for Sri Lanka’s economic growth was unchanged from the 6.8% forecast it made
last April and was still less optimistic than the Central Bank’s forecast of
7.5%.
The
ADB trimmed the 2013 growth forecast by 0.3% for the 45 developing member
countries to 6.3% and cut its 2014 forecast to 6.4%. In April, ADB had
predicted the region to grow 6.6% this year and 6.7% next year. The South Asian region is expected to expand by 5.6% in 2013, marginally
less than the ADB’s earlier 5.7% forecast, and pick up momentum to post 6.2%
growth in 2014, the ADB said. Economic growth in India is expected to slow down
to 5.8% against an earlier forecast of 6%. Sri Lanka’s economy grew 6.4% in 2012 after averaging around 8% from 2010 to
2011, said the ADB report.
