"It is concerning that uncertainty continues in the East Asia and Pacific region."
Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, vice president for East Asia and Pacific (EAP) at the World Bank (WB), met with Korean reporters at the WB office in Washington, D.C., on the 15th local time and gave this answer to a question about the impact of U.S. tariff measures. Jaramillo was appointed EAP vice president last month. He previously served as vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Jaramillo said, "The World Bank projects EAP's economic growth rate this year at 4.8%," adding, "In absolute terms, that can be seen as not a bad pace of growth, but it is a slight decline from last year's 5.0%." He emphasized, "What is worrisome is that the trend in the growth rate is downward."
Jaramillo said that along with the impact of tariffs, growth in the EAP region has entered a period of stagnation, and he suggested identifying the causes of the stagnation and pursuing reforms. He explained, "If you look at how most countries grow, after they achieve growth beyond a certain level, they experience a kind of bottleneck," adding, "If they identify what that bottleneck is and reform the existing order, they regain their growth momentum."
On reform measures, he said, "Startups should be able to enter the market and create jobs." He said, "Lately, startups appear to be stagnating or entering a phase where it is hard to grow," adding, "This is because they lack access to credit or struggle to find talent with sufficient skills."
The WB is helping bridge gaps in basic education among countries through support such as development financing and technology transfer programs, and to provide the digital skills needed for jobs that will emerge in the future. Jaramillo said, "When Korea was a low-income country, it benefited from the World Bank's low-interest, long-term loans," adding, "Korea made good use of this and developed at a very fast pace to become an advanced economy."
He added, "The scale of investment by Korean corporations in developing countries through the WB is about $4 billion," and "Korea is an enormous success story of WB support. As an important partner of the WB, we hope to continue our cooperation going forward."