World Bank Reduces Growth Forecasts for China and East Asia

Earlier today, the World Bank reduced its growth expectations for the economies of both China and East Asia. Originally, experts at the Washington-based development bank had expected the Chinese economy to grow by 8.3 percent.  That figure has been lowered to 7.5 percent. For East Asia’s economy, analysts had thought an expansion of 7.8 percent seemed on target. That figure has been dropped to 7.1 percent. The primary reasons for the lowering of these numbers is China’s shift from an export-oriented economy to a more domestic one and East Asia’s slower-than-expected growth. Whatever the cause, investors in this region clearly don’t want any more growth reduction forecasts.