Built up from surveys of over 600 policy makers, business people and academics from around the Asia-Pacific region, this is always a highly anticipated tool.
Some preliminary indications from the 2014/15 State of the Region are:
“The Asia-Pacific region is forecast to grow at around 3.8 percent over the next two years before moderating to around 3.5 percent in 2018-2019. While far from the heady rates of above 5 percent growth during the pre-Global Economic Crisis period it represents a steady if unremarkable recovery from the depths of dark days of the 2008-2009.
According to PECC’s annual survey of opinion leaders from the policy community, the top five issues that APEC Leaders should discuss are:
- Progress towards a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP)
- Innovative development, economic reform and growth
- The APEC Growth Strategy
- Reducing the income inequality in the region
- Attaining the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment.
RCEP and the TPP provide way-stations for experimenting with and adjusting to deeper integration. This is important for the large trade flows that connect the United States, China and Japan with each other and other partners. Asian and trans-Pacific regional negotiations are moving forward, despite business cycles, elections, geopolitics, and political controversy.”
The full research document is now accessible here.
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