Developing East Asia's growth remains robust: World Bank

Economic growth will ease slightly but remain strong throughout developing countries in East Asia and the Pacific this year, with the region benefiting from lower oil prices and a continued economic recovery in developed economies, the World Bank said Monday.

The developing economies in the region are projected to grow by 6.7 percent in 2015 and 2016, slightly down from 6.9 percent in 2014, according to the East Asia Pacific Economic Update released Monday by the World Bank.

China's growth is expected to moderate to around 7 percent in the next two years compared with 7.4 percent in 2014. Growth in the rest of developing East Asia is expected to rise by half a percentage point, to 5.1 percent this year, largely driven by domestic demand --thanks to upbeat consumer sentiment and falling oil prices--in the large Southeast Asian economies, the report said.

"Despite slightly slower growth in East Asia, the region will still account for one-third of global growth, twice the combined contribution of all other developing regions," said Axel van Trotsenburg, World Bank East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice President.

"Lower oil prices will boost domestic demand in most countries in the region and provide policy makers a unique opportunity to push fiscal reforms that will raise revenues and reorient public spending toward infrastructure and other productive uses," he said. Endi