IMF raises growth forecasts for Asian economies

A file photo of Leftist demonstrators shouting slogans to protest against the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Istanbul on October 1. Photo: AP.

The International Monetary Fund says Asian economies from China to India will grow faster than expected through next year, far outpacing recoveries in the West, thanks to aggressive government stimulus measures and an uptick in global trade.

But the fund on Thursday says the expansion will still fall below levels seen in the decade before the economic crisis as consumers in the U.S. and other large industrialized nations curtail their spending on Asian-made goods in the face of rising unemployment and other legacies of the downturn.

“Asia has not decoupled from the rest of the world,” the IMF says in a report.

The fund says Asia will grow 2.75 percent in 2009 and 5.75 percent in 2010. Both projections were about 1.5 percentage points stronger than those estimated by the fund in May.