Asia-Pacific trade and investment report 2012: recent trends and developments
The Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report aims to deepen understanding of regional trends and developments in trade and investment; emerging issues in trade, investment and trade facilitation policies; and impacts of these policies on countries’ abilities to meet the challenges of achieving inclusive and sustainable development. APTIR 2012 focuses on trends and developments in the economies of Asia and the Pacific in their post-recovery from the 2008-2009 crisis and trade collapse. The Report finds that after the initial promising signals of a recovery in 2010, exports from Asia and the Pacific are again facing a risk of deceleration. The intensified pressure in the euro zone and the rising threat from a slowdown in the emerging economies has raised the fear of a re-emergence or trade and investment contraction. The growth of goods exports in developing Asia and the Pacific countries, in real terms, is expected to drop from 6.5% in 2011 to 2% in 2012, while import growth is projected to fall from 9% to 3% during the same period.