The Asian Development Bank Outlook 2019 this month has forecasted that the Pacific region economy will grow by 4.2% in 2019.

The growth is attributed to Gas Production in Papua New Guinea which has outpaced projections, while Construction Expenditure in the Solomon Islands and Samoa are higher than expected.

Contributing also to the projected 4.2% economic growth is that Nauru was suffering less economic decline than predicted.

Tonga disappointing

Conversely, there is lower growth projected for tourism in Cook Islands and Palau, and a “disappointing recovery expenditure for Tonga”.

The Pacific regional growth forecast for 2020 is downgraded to 2.6% largely because of project delays in Papua New Guinea.

According to the Outlook inflation in the subregion was expected to ease further to 3.4% in 2019, which is 0.3% lower than projected earlier.

However, according to the Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank, Yasuyuki Sawada, “Developing Asia is urbanizing rapidly, promising job creation and economic growth. . . .

“As cities expand over municipal boundaries and become more connected with one another through flows of goods, services and people, better planning coordination is needed at all levels of government."