Asia-Pacific region to lead global growth

The Asia-Pacific region will remain the global leader in terms of economic growth this year even as individual economies in the area fall below recent highs.

Policymakers, particularly in Southeast Asia, have to take advantage of current bright economic prospects to push for reforms that could be harder to sell during more turbulent episodes, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Friday.

In a report, the multilateral lender said economic growth in the region would reach 5.4 percent in 2015 and 2016, outpacing the rest of the world.

“Asia’s growth should benefit from relatively strong labor markets and disposable income growth along with the ongoing gradual recovery in major advanced economies,” the IMF said in its Asia Pacific Regional Economic Outlook (REO).

The new REO was released as a supplement to the IMF’s updated World Economic Outlook (WEO), which was published earlier this week.