"Economic Outlook and Challenges in Asia"

Changyong Rhee, Director, Asia and Pacific Department IMF

Language: The speech and Q & A will be in English.

Was the recently declared truce in Trump's trade war with China really a cause for rejoicing, as the elated initial reaction in stock markets suggested?Or has fallout from the conflict created a climate of longer-term fear and friction? These questions are of critical importance for Japan and other Asian economies that depend heavily on international trade and investment.

In the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s latest Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and the Pacific, it scaled back earlier forecasts and said that growth in Asia is expected to moderate in 2020. A "marked deceleration in merchandise trade and investment, driven by distortionary trade measures and an uncertain policy environment, is weighing on activity, particularly in the manufacturing sector," it noted.

That was in mid-October. But even after the truce in the US-China trade war in mid-December, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) still scaled back its 2020 growth projections for Asia. How big is the threat to the open trade and investment environment that has been the foundation of Asia's postwar prosperity?

Changyong Rhee, Director of the Asia and Pacific Department at the IMF, will offer his expert analysis to the FCCJ. Before he joined the Fund in February 2014, Mr. Rhee was Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He has also been a frequent policy advisor to the Government of Korea, including in the Office of the President.

Dr. Rhee has published widely in macroeconomics, financial economics, and on the Korean economy. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and an undergraduate honors degree from Seoul National University, both in economics.

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