The Asia Pacific region鈥檚 growth in the forthcoming year will remain at 2024 levels, according to Mastercard Economics Institute鈥檚 recently published economic outlook for the year 2025, which also forecasted that inflation and interest rates would ease offering relief to consumers and households.聽
These regional forecasts align with global economic trends, which predicted a moderate acceleration in growth to 3.2 per cent in 2025, up from 3.1 per cent in 2024.
In the outlook, Bangladesh was highlighted as one of the countries experiencing significant population outflows, alongside India, Mexico, Russia, Syria, the Chinese Mainland, Pakistan and Ukraine.
These migrations are driven by a range of factors, including a pursuit of better opportunities and concerns over security, according to the report.
The report underscored the importance of remittances for APAC economies, with India, China, the Philippines and Pakistan among the top five recipients.
Despite outbound migration impacting human capital, remittance continued to be a crucial support for low- and middle-income communities in South Asia, contributing over 6 per cent of Sri Lanka鈥檚 GDP and 5 per cent of Bangladesh鈥檚, the outlook said.
MEI forecasted a tightening of labour market in the APAC, with inflation-adjusted wages rising, boosting consumer spending on discretionary items like electronics and appliances.
While demand for experience spending has slowed, big-ticket events like concerts remain a priority, it said.
Travel in the APAC is expected to stay strong, though passenger numbers in mid-2024 were still 12 per cent below 2019 levels, partly due to slower recovery in outbound travel from Northeast Asia, especially China and Japan, according to the outlook.
鈥業f 2024 was about 鈥榞etting back to normal鈥�, 2025 is about normalisation as volatility subsides and easing monetary policy allows consumers to benefit from economic growth,鈥� said David Mann, chief economist 鈥� Asia Pacific of Mastercard.
