Despite weakening economies in many western countries, the equity markets around the world don’t show any signs of fatigue. The US and many European stock markets grew at double-digit rates since the beginning of this year.[mepr-active membership=”1734″ ifallowed=”show” unauth=”message” unauth_message=”Please login or purchase a membership to view full text.”]
Even more surprising, reduced earning outlooks of many large companies seem to have no negative impact on the stock markets so far. The investors’ sentiment ignores these facts and remains positive. The markets around the world remain bullish also due to a lack of alternative investment opportunities and the fact that many private and professional investors are sitting on a pile of cash that seeks lucrative investments. Furthermore, low-interest rates lure investors to invest on credit. The fear of rising interest rates is currently banned which increase the risk of bubbles as more and more money is flooding into the markets without considering properly the fundamentals.
Nevertheless, Asia remains a promising region. Many Asian economies show still GDP growth rates above five percent. The Asian Pacific region has become less dependent and therefore less vulnerable from developments in the US and Europe nowadays. A downturn in developed countries might not have the same impact as it used to have ten years ago.
Despite the tendency to more protectionism and the presence of geopolitical risks, many Asia Pacific economies are still expected to have stable growth rates in 2019. We have summarized the latest economic forecasts on GDP growth rates from the World Bank and other sources in the table above.
India is leading the ranking with the highest GDP growth expectation among Asia Pacific countries with a forecasted rate of 7.3 percent this year, followed by Vietnam with a growth rate predicted at 6.6 percent. On the lower end are Japan and Taiwan with forecasted GDP growth rates of 0.9 and 2.1 percent respectively for 2019. However, India is the only country in Asia Pacific which is expected to accelerate its growth rate in 2019. 9 out of 14 Asia Pacific countries in our table are expected to have lower growth rates compared to 2017. Only Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand are expected to have more or less stable growth rates this year.
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