COUNTRIES in Asia-Pacific have strengthened their regional integration during the pandemic, which helped to insulate their economies as supply chain bottlenecks and restrictions to restrain the virus choked trade elsewhere. Intra-regional trade grew more than 31 percent in the first three quarters of 2021, after contracting 3 percent in the same period the year before, according to a report yesterday from the Asian Development Bank. Trade within Asia made up 58.5 percent of the region’s total trade in 2020, its highest share in three decades, according to the report. Successful virus containment and swift vaccination in Asia’s major economies allowed them to become hubs for medical and consumer goods, boosting exports as other countries reopened and demand recovered, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said. The new Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade agreement is expected to boost trade prospects further. “Asia supply chains have been more resilient compared with those in advanced countries,” ADB Principal Economist Jong Woo Kang said. This has helped keep any widespread inflation pressures at bay in the region, save for sporadic spikes in food prices, he said. Foreign direct investment into the region also remained resilient, slipping only 1.3 percent in 2020 compared with a decline of nearly 35 percent globally. (SD-Agencies) | 