WORLD BANK / EAST ASIA ECONOMIC UPDATE (02:23)

3 November 2009

WORLD BANK / EAST ASIA ECONOMIC UPDATE (02:23)

A new World Bank report shows East Asian economies rebounding--but the progress is almost entirely driven by China. This new report, showing some surprising signals signs of economic health, and also some huge gaps, comes just as the region's heads of state are meeting in Singapore this week. WORLD BANK

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Full Script

STORY:  WORLD BANK / EAST ASIA ECONOMIC UPDATE
TRT 2:23
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: EMBARGOED UNTIL 3 NOVEMBER 2009 11PM EST (GMT-5) 
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 3 NOVEMBER 2009 WASHINGTON, DC/ FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE - JUNE 2008, PHILIPPINES

1.	Wide shot, street
2.	Med shot, Loading rice

FILE - JANUARY 2009, LAOS

3.	Wide shot, people shopping

FILE - MAY 2008, CHINA

4.	Wide shot, City shot
5.	Wide shot, Shopping
6.	Wide shot, street lit up at night 
7.	Wide shot, street, daytime
8.	Wide shot, construction
9.	Pan right, city
10.	Wide shot, street
11.	Med shot, street vendor

3 NOVEMBER 2009 WASHINGTON, DC

12.	SOUNDBITE (English) Ivailo Izvorski, World Bank Group:
“The rest of East Asia and the Pacific, excluding China, is projected to grow only by about one percent, a pace that is slower than the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, notably India, and sub-Saharan Africa. It is interesting to note that within this wide region, there are countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam that didn’t experience a single quarter of negative growth, and actually our projections are somewhat similar to what they used to be a year ago. These differences in projections from both April and a year ago reflect a much lower growth in Thailand and Malaysia, two of the middle income counties that are very exposed to global production change, to global trade, and two of the lower income countries, Cambodia and Mongolia.”

FILE - JUNE 2008, PHILIPPINES

13.	Wide shot, ramshackle house
14.	Close up, kid

FILE - JANUARY 2009, LAOS

15.	Med shot, bike vendor

3 NOVEMBER 2009 WASHINGTON, DC

16.	SOUNDBITE (English) Ivailo Izvorski, World Bank Group:
“There are going to be more poor in the region than we’d originally expected, 14 million more poor, but that doesn’t really capture what’s happening in the economies of the region. Many workers are now earning lower wages, they’re not able to work overtime, they’re being laid off, often those that are not furloughed or laid off are trying to find work in the informal sector, that’s lowering wages in the informal sector, so overall, in fact, the poor and the workers are suffering disproportionately from this crisis.”

FILE - OCTOBER 2006, SINGAPORE

17.	Wide shot, city
18.	Wide shot, city

STORYLINE:

A new World Bank report shows East Asian economies rebounding, but the progress is almost entirely driven by China.

The latest East Asia and Pacific Update, titled Transforming the Rebound into Recovery, says large and timely fiscal stimulus spending in most East Asian and Pacific countries along with a powerful process of inventory restocking now underway, have driven the rebound in the region and that could have powerful implications for the global economy.

China and Korea are leading the pack, World Bank economists predict China will grow at 8.4 percent this year, not as strong as in 2008, but still robust. Overall, the World Bank predicts the East Asia and Pacific region will grow at 6.7 percent, but economists warn there are pockets of very low growth, or none at all.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ivailo Izvorski, World Bank Group:
“The rest of East Asia and the Pacific, excluding China, is projected to grow only by about one percent, a pace that is slower than the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, notably India, and sub-Saharan Africa. It is interesting to note that within this wide region, there are countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam that didn’t experience a single quarter of negative growth, and actually our projections are somewhat similar to what they used to be a year ago. These differences in projections from both April and a year ago reflect a much lower growth in Thailand and Malaysia, two of the middle income counties that are very exposed to global production change, to global trade, and two of the lower income countries, Cambodia and Mongolia.”

This semi-annual checkup reveals that the recession has hit the region’s poor hard. Economists figure 14 million people will remain trapped in poverty who would have climbed out of it had the recession not hit.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ivailo Izvorski, World Bank Group:
 “There are going to be more poor in the region than we’d originally expected, 14 million more poor, but that doesn’t really capture what’s happening in the economies of the region. Many workers are now earning lower wages, they’re not able to work overtime, they’re being laid off, often those that are not furloughed or laid off are trying to find work in the informal sector, that’s lowering wages in the informal sector, so overall, in fact, the poor and the workers are suffering disproportionately from this crisis.”

The World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific update comes just as ministers and heads of state from the region are meeting in Singapore later this week.

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