Asia-Pacific economies will see subdued growth in 2013 after last year’s sharp slowdown caused by external factors, the United Nations said during launch of economic and social survey of Asia and the pacific region 2013. Report says that efforts to stimulate demand must go hand in hand with macroeconomic course correction to promote broad-based and sustainable development. In her video address, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESC Dr Noeleen Heyzer said in her preface to the Survey that the 2013 Survey reminds us that this is no time for complacency, as the need for a more inclusive and sustainable pattern of economic and social development continues to be critical. “In the light of the region’s high degree of economic insecurity, large development and infrastructure gaps and heightened environmental fragility along with extreme exposure to climate change-related risks, it is necessary to better balance the stabilization and the developmental roles of macroeconomic policies,” Executive Secretary Heyzer added. Inclusive and environment-friendly growth is key to creating new sources of economic dynamism amidst the persisting global uncertainty, says the flagship publication of the Bangkok, Thailand-based United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) which estimates that economic policy uncertainty in the eurozone and the United States since the onset of the global crisis has shaved 3 per cent off regional GDP – a loss of $870 billion in output.
