India, China will help maintain Asia's growth rate in 2017: ADB

The largest economies of Asia - India and China - will help maintain the growth rate of the region at 5.7 per cent in 2016 and 2017, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report said on Tuesday.

"Asia is expected to maintain 5.7 per cent growth in 2016 and 2017, buoyed by resilience in the region's largest economies, the People's Republic of China and India," said ADB's Asian Economic Integration Report 2016 released here.

It said that India's growth prospects have got a boost from the acceptance of the 7th pay panel recommendations and likely implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime next year.

"In India, steady progress of reforms boosted its growth prospects. In June 2016, the approval of wage and pension increases enhanced private consumption; and a new law creating a national value added tax are expected to strengthen India's fiscal position and lift investor confidence," it said.

Growth in China in the first half of 2016 eased to 6.7 per cent from 7 per cent in the same period last year, as reforms to restructure the economy away from export-led growth toward consumption continued, it added.

--IANS

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