The ASEAN region is mending strongly with growth expected to reach an average of 5% in the next two years. The growth recovery is predicated on widespread vaccination efforts, easing mobility restrictions, and opening of borders to tourism. Despite this sanguine outlook, the performance in the region also varies with bigger and resource-rich economies growing faster than smaller economies or those dependent on oil and food imports. Sectoral growth is also quite uneven with the nascent recovery in transport, accommodation, and tourism occurring in a protracted manner. This K-shape recovery puts at risk inclusive growth in the region. Global risks have also increased and could weaken the growth outlook through trade and supply chain disruptions, high-commodity prices, and rising financial stress. Last but not least: economic scarring could also slow productivity growth through destruction of human capital, rising trade costs and impediment, and higher interest costs which discourages innovation. The unprecedented scale and impact of COVID-19 pandemic has also put hard-won development progress at risk. For example, poverty estimates show that the number of people in extreme poverty in Southeast Asia has increased by an average of over 5 million in 2020 and 2021, compared to a no-COVID scenario. More so, with limited fiscal space and rising debt, delivering the SDGs and staying on a net-zero path becomes even more difficult.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), in partnership with the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) will hold a webinar on ASEAN Economic Outlook: Building Strategies for Resilient and Sustainable Recovery. The aim of the webinar is to provide the venue to discuss the implications of competing short-term, medium-term, and long-term challenges on the region’s prospect for building a resilient and sustainable recovery.

Some of the questions that will be discussed are:

1. There are many economic and social challenges confronting policymakers in Southeast Asia, namely: the K-shape recovery, numerous risks from global headwinds, potential economic scarring in the medium-term, long-term development impact of COVID-19, and the goal of delivering SDGs and net zero. Which among these challenges are the most important? And which among them should be prioritized by policymakers. And why? Are they related in some ways?
2. What are the policy instruments that can be used to address the: a) macroeconomic issues and challenges pose by global headwinds, K-shape recovery, and economic scarring; and b) social and development issues related to poverty and inequality, and accelerating SDG progress and achieving a net zero society?

Schedule

• Date: Wednesday, 26 October 2022
• Time: 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM (Manila/UTC+8)
• Venue: Virtual Room

Agenda

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