IMF raises growth forecasts for world, ASEAN

The International Monetary Fund, has raised the ASEAN-5, which includes Thailand’s economic growth target this year to 5.1 percent from an earlier estimate of 5 percent, along with the upward revision of its growth forecast for the world economy to hit 3.5 percent from 3.4 percent.

The IMF July update follows its April World Economic Outlook (WEO) report and is three months away from the second WEO to be released in October.

For 2018, the IMF still expects ASEAN-5 – these include Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines – to grow by 5.2 percent.

The projection for the 2017 growth for emerging market and developing economies was also raised from 4.5 percent to 4.6 percent but maintained the 2018 estimate of 4.8 percent.

The IMF has not updated its earlier review of ASEAN-5 growth but noted that emerging and developing economies will continue to have “sustained pickup in activity” with growth rising from 4.3 percent in 2016 to 4.6 percent in 2017 and 4.8 percent in 2018,” it said. These forecasts reflect upward revisions, relative to April, of 0.2 percentage point for 2016, and 0.1 percentage point for 2017.

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