The World Bank raised its growth forecast for East Asia and the Pacific to 4.5% for 2026, 0.3 percentage points above its earlier estimate, largely thanks to exports linked to artificial intelligence. Vietnam received the biggest revision with growth now expected at 7.4%, while Malaysia rose to 5.1% and Thailand to 2.0%. More than 70% of export growth in Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam is tied to AI products, leaving these economies heavily exposed to a slowdown in global demand. The Bank flagged several key risks: a correction in global AI spending, persistently high energy prices driven by tensions in the Middle East, and El Niño damage to agriculture. Meanwhile, AMRO maintained a 4.1% growth outlook for the ASEAN+3 region for 2026-2027 and warned that a slowdown in AI-related activity could cut growth by as much as 1.5 percentage points.
Source: Read the original article
