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MANILA - Growth in Asia's developing economies should ease to 7.6 per cent in 2007 from last year's 11-year peak as expansion in industrialised nations slows, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said today.
Regional powerhouses are set to lead the pack with China's economy seen expanding by 10.0 per cent this year and India recording 8.0 per cent growth, the Manila-based multilateral institution said in its annual economic outlook.
The region's growth is expected to nudge up to 7.7 per cent in 2008 even as China's expansion is seen slowing slightly to 9.8 per cent, it said. India is likely to grow 8.3 per cent next year.
The ADB said last year's regional growth of 8.3 per cent was the strongest in 11 years, with China and India accounting for about 70 per cent of the expansion.
The development lender said this year's forecasts "imply that growth will move onto a more sustainable footing and that overheating pressures that surfaced in 2006 will begin to abate."
Softer external demand and policy curbs will cool China's growth this year from 10.7 per cent in 2006, the ADB said.
It said Chinese industrial output growth would slow to 11 per cent from about 12 per cent in the last two years, reflecting significant oversupply in some sectors.
Investment growth also slowed as a result of tightening measures and slower growth of exports caused by weaker foreign demand for Chinese goods, the bank said.
In contrast, expansion should pick up in the service sector to 10.4-10.5 per cent from 10.3 per cent because of government efforts to promote consumption as well as spending related to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
- REUTERS
