Viewpoints

Asia Market Outlook 2023: Regional Resilience Amid Strained Global Markets

As the COVID-19 recovery continues, we expect Asia’s growth-inflation dynamics to diverge from the rest of the world, led by China’s long-awaited economic reopening.

Despite global economic headwinds, including a likely recession in developed markets, we believe economic growth in many Asian markets will remain resilient in 2023 as the recovery from COVID-19 continues.

We think China’s faster-than-expected reopening – which began with the end of its zero-COVID strategy in early December – may also boost both the global and regional economies, in particular for tourism-reliant Thailand and China-growth-sensitive Malaysia. Our baseline 2023 annual GDP growth forecast for China is above 5%, which we expect to be led by pent-up consumer demand, up from 3% in 2022.

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The Author

Stephen Chang

Portfolio Manager, Asia

Subhash Ganga

Portfolio Manager, Asia Emerging Markets

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