ADB: Asian Economies Could Benefit from Falling Oil Prices
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Rabu, 17 Desember 2014 18:26 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that the falling prices for oil across presents a golden opportunity for developing economies across Asia to carry out necessary reforms, through its' latest report released in Manila on Wednesday, December 17, 2014.
It is known that oil is currently trading at a five-year low as major oil consumers across the globe reported a slowdown in economic growth. For example, China's oil consumption is declining as the growth of its' real estate sector continues to decline, which consequently affects the performance of its’ construction sector. As a result, ADB has revised its' growth projection for China to 7.2 percent in 2015 - down from its' initial projection which stood at 7.5 percent.
"While growth in the first three quarters of this year were somewhat softer than we had expected," says ADB Chief Economist Shang-Jin Wei, "declining oil prices may mean an upside surprise in 2015 as most economies are oil importers."
Indeed, the majority of Asian economies have revised their inflation forecasts downward as oil and commodity prices continues to fall. According to ADB's latest report, the inflation forecast for the region is lowered to 3.2 percent in 2014 and 3.5 percent in 2015, down from ADB's previous projections which places inflation figures for 2015 and 2015 at 3.4 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively.
"Falling global oil prices present a golden opportunity for importers like Indonesia and India to reform their costly fuel subsidy programs," Wei emphasized. "On the other hand, oil exporters can seize the opportunity to develop their manufacturing sectors as low commodity prices tend to make their real exchange rates more competitive."(*)