-- The International Monetary Fund has lowered its growth estimates for most Asian economies for 2026, according to a recent release.
The organization revised down its growth outlook for emerging Asian economies to 4.9% from a previous prospect of 5% in January, which was before the start of the conflict in the Middle East.
Growth for the group will continue to decline to 4.8% in 2027, the IMF said.
The organization projects China's economy growing 4.4% this year and 4% next year, while India will post growth of 6.5% for the next two years.
Cumulative growth among Southeast Asia's five biggest economies, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, will fall to 3.7% in 2026 from 4.9%, although this will recover to 4.7% next year, the organization said.
Individually, Vietnam will post the strongest growth of 7.1%, although this is still lower than the 8% growth last year.
The rest of the economies in the group will also see lower growth, with Indonesia at 5%, Malaysia at 4.7%, the Philippines at 4.1%, and Thailand at 1.5%.
Among advanced economies in Asia-Pacific, Korea's growth will rise to 1.9% from 1% last year, while that of Australia will remain flat at 2%.
Japan's growth will slow down to 0.7% in 2026 and 0.6% in 2027 from 1.2% last year, according to the IMF.
Taiwan will see lower expansion of 5.2% from 8.7% in 2025, while Singapore's growth will come to 3.5%, down from 5% last year.
Hong Kong will also observe lower growth of 2.4%, compared to 3.5% in 2025.
The IMF forecasts global economic growth to weaken to 3.1% this year from 3.4% last year, accounting for the impacts of the continued conflict in the Middle East.