State of the Region 2019 - 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The mood across the Asia-Pacific has soured since this time last year with expectations for global growth turning distinctly negative. Regional economic growth is expected to slow from 3.8 percent growth in 2018 to 3.3 percent growth this year. However, it is the dramatic slowdown in the external sector that is of most concern with export growth slowing from 4.0 percent to just 0.9 growth this year for Asia-Pacific economies. While governments are acting to moderate a slowdown through stimulus measures, primarily interest rate cuts, other actions also need to be taken.

Sixty-eight percent of respondents to PECC’s annual survey of the Asia-Pacific policy community expect weaker or much weaker growth for the global economy next year. The top five risks to growth identified by our survey of the Asia-Pacific policy community for their economies are:

• Increased protectionism and trade wars
• A slowdown in world trade growth
• A slowdown in the Chinese economy
• A slowdown...

State of the Region 2019 - 2020 report released in Kuala Lumpur | 13 December 2019

State of the Region Report 2019-2020 Released in Kuala Lumpur

The fourteenth annual PECC State of the Region 2019-2020 report was released today. The SOTR is an annual report from PECC’s on the major developments affecting Asia-Pacific regional cooperation. It contains a macroeconomic overview of the current state of the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the results of PECC's annual survey of the region's opinion leaders. This year, the survey was conducted from 5 August to 20 September and responses were received from 627 opinion leaders. The survey panelists were selected based on their expertise and direct involvement or influence on regional policy-making, coming from government, business and civil society.

The report shows the mood across Asia-Pacific has soured since last year with expectations for global growth turning distinctly negative. Regional economic growth is expected to slow from 3.8% in 2018 to 3.3% this year. Of greater concern is the sharp slowdown in the external se...

A Vision for APEC 2040

In 1994 APEC Leaders committed to the Bogor Goals to achieve free trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region by 2020. That commitment underpinned substantial efforts over the last 25 years to open up trade, and the higher levels of economic integration and interconnectedness that have provided significant economic benefits across all APEC economies.

Today in the face of considerable new challenges, including rising trade tensions, real threats to the multilateral trading system, the impact of the digital economy and new technologies and the challenges posed by climate change, it is imperative that APEC commit to a Vision for the next twenty years - a Vision that embraces all sectors of society in an inclusive way.

This PECC signature project proposes a Vision for APEC Beyond 2020 and recommends a set of key priorities for APEC. The proposed Vision is deliberately broader than the goal of freer trade and investment. It envisages

“An Asia-Pacific community of open interconnected,...

2019 CSIS Global Dialogue: Harnessing Frontier Technologies: Redesigning National, Regional and Global Architecture | Jakarta, Indonesia | September 16-17, 2019

The Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) co-organized the 2019 CSIS Global Dialogue in collaboration with the University of Prasetiya Mulya and GK Plug and Play Indonesia on Harness Frontier Technologies: Redesigning National, Regional and Global Architecture on 16-17 September 2019. H.E. Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Finance said that “if technological progress is used in a proper way, we are going to be able to have much higher productivity, value-added, efficiency and also reduce waste.”

The meeting took place against the backdrop of rising concerns on the rapid advancement of technology and how it will affect the global economy in terms of globalization, cyber security and future skills workforce. Participants engaged in a first-hand discussion with Sophia – a human-like robot modelled after actress Audrey Hepburn.

The discussions were organized into four plenary sessions:

• Plenary Session 1: The New Te...

Towards a More Resilient Society: Lessons from Economic Crises (2015-2017)

A series of regional and global financial crises highlighted the need to enhance the resilience of social infrastructure against sudden shocks, particularly for those categorized as vulnerable groups. More recently, a persistent and widening social divide that casts a shadow on the stability of national and global systems presents a serious challenge, and more social policies need to be developed to mitigate this gap.

In response to these challenges within the Asia-Pacific regional context, the Japan National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (JANCPEC) has been conducting the Social Resilience Research Project (SR Project) as a Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) International Project since 2010. The SR Project aims to shed light on the importance of social security and to closely examine its role in the domestic economy. In addition, the SR Project is the first ambitious attempt by the APEC/PECC family to discuss social policy dimensions, as APEC and PECC have tradit...