ADB projects 5.5 % GDP in Nepal for coming fiscal year

India's growth is expected to pick up to 7.3 percent in fiscal year (FY) 2018 and 7.6 percent in FY2019, following the estimated 6.6 percent in FY2017, says a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.

Vietnam's GDP expanded by 6.81 percent past year, the highest rate in a decade.

"Aided by able macroeconomic management, economic growth will spurt in 2018, with Vietnam becoming one of the strongest performers in the region", the Manila-based lender said in its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2018 released on Wednesday.

Since President Donald Trump at the start of March imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports as part of his protectionist "America First" agenda, China and the United States have swapped tit-for-tat tariff threats on goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

The mining investment will drive growth.

"Recent U.S. tariffs on select products have not yet dented trade, but further actions by the U.S. and counteractions against them could undermine business and consumer confidence in Asia and the Pacific", the report said.

Household consumption grew by 5.8 percent last year from 7.0 percent in the previous year on the back of higher remittances and employment, with the unemployment rate falling by 1.3 percentage points to 5.3 percent in January this year.

Parkash also said export performance of the country is expected to strengthen, but net exports are not likely to add to growth due to expanding import.

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China has set a growth target of around 6.5% this year, the same as last year, which it handily beat with an expansion of 6.9%.

Abhijit Sen Gupta, Economist, India Resident Mission, ADB, said the odds for rate hikes by the RBI was low.

In Central Asia, growth is expected to reach 4.0 percent in 2018 and 4.2 percent in 2019, driven mainly by rising commodity prices. With 7.3 per cent growth projected for this fiscal, India would be reversing the two-year declining trend.

Ranked in the middle are Indonesia (5.3% and 5.3%) and Malaysia (5.3% and 5%).

Cambodia's economy is forecast to grow 7 per cent this year and next despite uncertainties from its national elections, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said today.

With China's growth projected to slow down to 6.6% and 6.4% in 2018 and 2019 respectively as domestic economic policy leans further toward financial stability and a more sustainable growth trajectory, ADB said India will remain the world's fastest growing major economy.

"Encouragingly, progress in December 2017 toward enacting a new company law can assure foreign investors that corporate reform will continue", the bank said.