The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific recently unveiled the 60th anniversary edition of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific. The latest issue predicted that the region will experience slower growth in 2008 but will ride out the global financial turmoil stemming from the U.S. sub-prime crisis and high food and oil prices, due to solid macroeconomic fundamentals, i.e., manageable budget deficits and massive foreign reserves. It cited challenges that the region needs to tackle at various levels, such as food inflation and continued currency appreciation in the immediate future, and climate change as well as the social dimensions of international migration in the medium term. In the long run, Asia-Pacific developing economies need to increase their focus on agriculture so as to make it economically and socially viable. To do this, the publication recommended a two-pronged strategy that would involve revitalizing the sector and facilitating migration out of agriculture.
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