Asian economies will slow down in coming months, World Bank

The World Bank has said economies in Asia will slow down in the coming months. Bank's latest report said the slow down is due to disruptions to supplies of commodities, financial strains and higher prices. Forecasting slower growth and rising poverty in the Asia-Pacific region this year, World Bank has said growth for the region is estimated at 5 percent, down from the original forecast of 5.4 percent.  Russia's invasion of Ukraine has helped drive up prices for oil, gas and other commodities, eating into household purchasing power and burdening businesses and governments that already are contending with unusually high levels of debt due to the pandemic, the report said. 
The World Bank anticipates that China, the region’s largest economy, will expand at a 5 percent annual pace, much slower than the 8.1 percent growth of 2021.The report also pointed to three main potential shocks for the region- the Russia-Ukraine conflict, changing monetary policy in the U.S. and some other countries and a slowdown in China. On average, countries with a 1 percentage point higher vaccination rate had higher growth, it said. The 8 million households whose members fell back into poverty during the pandemic, will see real incomes shrink even further as prices soar.