Russian manufacturing sector rebounds strongly; Asian economy

Russian manufacturing sector recovers strongly

Russia's PMI in March was 55.7 points, up from 54.7 in February and the highest since August 2006.

Russia has recently spent heavily on manufacturing, pouring money into the military sector to boost military services. This policy also helped industrial output in February increase more than expected.

Domestic demand helped Russia's producer price index rise to 55.7 points last month, its highest since 2006.

In addition, new export orders also increased in March for the first time since October 2023. S&P Global said that foreign customer demand is increasing, as Russia expands into new export markets and wins new customers.

“ Russian businesses are hiring at the strongest pace since November 2000. Russia is also increasing its purchases of raw materials to rebuild inventories, ” S&P Global said.

Asia-Pacific economy grows 4.6%

In its recently released East Asia and Pacific Economic Update report, the World Bank (WB) said that developing economies in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding China, will grow 4.6% in 2024 - faster than 4.4% in 2023, thanks to a recovery in trade.

For China, the World Bank forecasts the world's second-largest economy will grow only 4.5% this year compared to 5.2% last year.

However, the World Bank warned that while regional merchandise exports are expected to begin recovering from the second half of 2023, developing Asia could face trade-distorting policies in key destination markets such as the US, China, Japan and South Korea.

In addition, the World Bank estimates that industrial output growth in developing Asia would be reduced by 0.5 percentage points if inflation unexpectedly rises in the US and interest rates remain higher for a longer period. Meanwhile, macro shocks could reduce China's economic growth by 0.3 percentage points.

The World Bank recommends removing barriers to competition, improving infrastructure and reforming education to help narrow the widening productivity gap between private businesses in Asia and their rivals outside the region.

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