Asia’s growth is forecast to be 5.6 percent in 2017 and 5.5 percent in 2018, maintaining the region’s importance as a global engine of growth, according to the IMF.

“Asia remains as the engine of growth. In relative terms, Asia’s contribution to growth is going down slightly because the other regions are also picking up. But the recovery of other regions broad-based recovery is increasing the Asian exports and that has a very virtuous circle within the region and in the world. So, for the short-term the outlook seems to be very positive,” said Changyong Rhee, Director of the Asia and Pacific Department of the IMF in a briefing on Friday on the Asia and Pacific regional Outlook.