MOSCOW, April 8 — The coronavirus pandemic may cost the Asia-Pacific region 0.8 per cent of the gross domestic product or, equivalently, US$172 billion due to weakened global demand for their exports alone, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said in a report published on Wednesday.
According to the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific report, shared with Sputnik, the demand for goods from the Asia-Pacific will fall in the region’s major trading partners, such as the United States and the European Union, both severely hit by the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Weakened demand from these markets could impair the region’s trade significantly… Preliminary estimates by ESCAP suggest that the region’s GDP could experience declines of 0.6 to 0.8 per cent (valued at US$132 billion to 172 billion) as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic through trade links alone,” the report read.
Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia and Singapore are the most vulnerable to the decline in demand as they rely heavily on trade with the pandemic-hit countries, according to the UN commission.
UN Under-Secretary-General and ESCAP Chief Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana told Sputnik last week that the economic growth of the Asia-Pacific countries may fall to 3.7 per cent in 2020, a 0.6 per cent decrease year-on-year, due to the Covid-19 impact.
In an op-ed article on Monday, the UN official urged the region to ramp up their cumulative health emergency spending by US$880 million per year through 2030. Alisjahbana also recommended that the regional countries create an Asia-Pacific health emergency preparedness fund.
— Bernama
