State of the Region 2023 - 2024

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

From March to April 2023 the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) conducted its annual survey of regional policy experts’ views on the State of the Region. Out of the more than 700 respondents, 47 percent expected worse growth for the global economy, a slight improvement over the 60 percent in last year’s survey. At the same time, they were slightly less pessimistic about the prospects for their own economies with 33 percent expecting weaker growth. The continued perception of weaker growth is likely to weigh heavily on business and consumer sentiment, especially with high inflation rates reducing space for discretionary expenditure.

Inflation was still considered the highest risk to growth by respondents with 52 percent of respondents selecting Rising cost of living as a top 5 risk to growth for their economy, almost the same share as last year’s 51 percent who selected inflation. The increasing cost of living stood out as a risk, with 43 percent selecti...

MANCPEC: Professor Dr Mohd Faiz Abdullah appointed as the new MANCPEC Chair

Professor Dr Mohd Faiz Abdullah succeeds Mr Herizal Hazri as the Chair of the Malaysia National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (MANCPEC). Professor Faiz is also the Chairman for the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), Malaysia.

A lawyer by training, Professor Faiz graduated with First-Class Honours in LLB from the International Islamic University Malaysia in 1989 and was called to the Malaysian Bar the following year. He later obtained an MBA from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia and a PhD from Putra Business School. His first degree was in English Literature from the University of Malaya.

As author and scholar, Professor Faiz has extensive experience in public policy and research, including as special adviser on international policy and affairs with the Selangor government, and later as adviser in strategic and international relations in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

Professor Fa...

MXCPEC: Dr. Gerardo Traslosheros appointed as the new MXCPEC Chair

Dr. Gerardo Traslosheros succeeds Ambassador Sergio Ley as the Chair of the Mexico National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dr. Traslosheros is also the Coordinator of the Global Governance Program at the UDLAP Jenkins Graduate School (UJGS) in Mexico City, and Member of the Mexican Council of Foreign Relations (COMEXI). He is also a newspaper columnist, an analyst on global affairs, and a professor on international economics. 

He has previously served as Ambassador of Mexico to New Zealand (2016-2018), the Consul General of Mexico in Sao Paulo (2011-2016), and Minister-Counsellor for the Ministry of the Economy at the Mexican Embassy to the OECD (2005-2007). He was the Coordinator of the OECD-Ministry of the Economy project for the Strengthening of Competitiveness in Mexico (2007-2009) and negotiations of the Mexico-Japan Economic Partnership-FTA Agreement (2003-2005). He was also a member of the Mexican NAFTA negotiating team.

He served as the APEC SOM Chair when Mexico...

29th PECC General Meeting Concludes

The 29^th PECC General Meeting concluded on 3^rd November 2022. The event was hosted by the Thailand National Committee of the Pacific Economic Council (TNCPEC) and the International Study Centre of the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the theme of “Asia Pacific beyond Thailand APEC 2022”. The conference provided insights and in-depth discussions on 3 key themes:

1.    The disruption affecting APEC connectivity during 2016-2022
2.    Trends of trade and investment liberalization / restrictions of APEC economies beyond 2022
3.    APEC cooperation to enhance the development of the BCG Economy; impact on climate change

Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai opened the event with a keynote address. He highlighted on the challenging global issues on food, fuel, and financial crises that are faced by many economies. He underscored that the shifting of geo-politics caused adversities for most economies to undertake transformative changes, par...