9 Chief Economists Outlook Some economies in the region, including Bangladesh and India, may benefit from global trends such as a diversification of manufacturing supply chains away from China. 4 In MENA, two-thirds of respondents (70%) expect moderate or strong growth in 2023. While this overall proportion has slightly dipped since the September edition, expectations of strong growth have increased from 12% to 15%. Energy exporters in the region continue to benefit from tight commodity markets, but oil prices have fallen by almost 25% since June 2022 5 , and these countries will be vulnerable to the impacts of any slowdown in global growth in 2023. In the East Asia and Pacific region, 37% of chief economists expect weak growth in 2023, and 63% expect moderate or strong growth, similar to September. However, that broad pattern masks a shift in expectations from strong to moderate growth since the last survey. During that period, the region has seen negative terms-of-trade developments, as well as policy tightening moves that placed increased pressure on households and businesses. 6 Challenging global financial conditions are also weighing on the economic outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean, and for Sub-Saharan Africa. For both regions, 68% of respondents expect weak growth in 2023. This is a slight improvement for Sub-Saharan African but points to a worsening of conditions for Latin America and the Caribbean. Inflation moderates, but slowly Inflation over the last year was stubbornly high and broad-based, but a number of modestly encouraging data releases in the final quarter of 2022 provide some room for optimism over the medium-term inflation outlook in 2023. A range of factors have contributed to a slight easing of the rate of inflation, including rapid and synchronized monetary tightening, stabilization of supply conditions and commodity prices, and an easing of demand pressures. The latest IMF forecast is that global inflation will dip to 6.5% this year from 8.8% in 2022. 7 3 IMF, October 2022a. 4 Economist Intelligence Unit, December 2022b. 5 Based on World Bank Monthly Commodity prices, November 2022. 6 IMF, October 2022a. 7 Ibid.