South Asian exports grew fastest, thanks to India: UNIDO
Tuesday, 24 February 2009, 15:32 IST
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New Delhi: India's rapid growth of merchandise exports made South Asia the fastest growing region in shipping out manufactured goods between 2000 and 2005, says a UN agency's annual report on industrial development. "Manufactured exports from all developing regions, excepting Latin America, grew faster than the world average and faster than exports from developing countries," said the report prepared by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). "South Asia was the fastest-growing region, reflecting India's rapid export growth, followed by the Middle East and North Africa, where the performance was dominated by Turkey," said the agency's report, titled "Industrial Development Report - 2009". The report, released simultaneously across the world, said developing countries have gained world share between 2000 and 2005 in both simple manufactures, based on resources and low-technology, as well as in complex products. On the issue of manufacturing, especially in value addition, the report said there was an accelerating shift in their location from developed countries. Here, it said, East Asia and the Pacific logged the maximum growth of 9.8 percent, followed by 7.9 percent for South Asia. "India alone accounts for nearly 80 percent of South Asian manufacturing value addition," the report said, adding: "South Asia's performance is driven by India, where electrical machinery and apparatus, iron and steel processing of nuclear fuel and chemicals grew very rapidly." The UN agency, which introduced a competitive performance index in 2003, said India was ranked 54th in 2005, as against 51st in 2000, despite leading the South Asian region among the 122 country-rankings.
Source: IANS
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