ABSTRACT
With the help of Tables 2.1 to 2.9 the overall performances of the economic indicators in South and Southeast Asia have been captured.
Growth performance
Table 2.1 presents the information from the selected Asian countries on comparative sectoral (agricultural, industrial and service) and overall growth performance in the period 1991-2005. In recent years, on average annually, India grew almost 8 per cent (2000-05). Sri Lanka and Bangladesh grew moderately, 5.3 and 5.4 per cent respectively, whereas Pakistan’s rate was below 5 per cent (4.8 per cent). The political chaos and the terrorist threats over the period of the last ten years were behind the low growth in Pakistan. During the same period, the growth rate in Vietnam was 7.5 per cent. This is the fastest-growing nation in Southeast Asia. This nation was not hit by the currency crisis of 1997. The crisis-hit countries, however, grew moderately after 1997. For instance, Table 2.1 suggests that Malaysia’s rate of growth was 4.8 per cent, Thailand’s 5.4 per cent and the Philippines’ 4.7 per
cent during 2000-05. All the South Asian nations grew strongly until 2005 compared to the rate of growth a decade earlier. However, this is not true for the countries in Southeast Asia.
