With the exception of Argentina and Uruguay, Latin America should experience better growth as a result of the economic recovery in the United States and Europe. Economic growth in most developing Asian countries slowed significantly during the year as external demand deteriorated in 2001.
However, despite being affected by weak external markets, some countries such as the People's Republic of China, India and Vietnam maintained relatively robust growth. In contrast, South Asian growth accelerated as slowing export expansion was offset by improvement in the performance of the agricultural sector. In Central Asia, growth was higher in 2001, in part because of large investments mainly in the energy sector.