Author: Durgesh K. Rai, ICRIER

The unprecedented economic growth in Asia during the last couple of decades has shifted the world economy’s centre of gravity from the West to the East. As the Asian economies have grown larger and become more complex they have also become more integrated with each other and with rest of the world. Nevertheless, despite sound macro-economic fundamentals and being far from the epicenter of the recent financial and economic crisis, the impact of the crisis on the region has been swifter and deeper than for other regions.

The expansion in intra-regional economic integration has not seen an increase in regional economic co-operation, particularly at broader or pan-Asian level, which has been lagging behind. Read more…