S&P Global cut its growth forecasts for some of Asia's top economies including India, the Philippines, and Malaysia on Monday, offsetting upgrades to China and South Africa, and much of Latin America. The estimates, which feed into S&P's closely-followed sovereign ratings, saw India's growth projection cut to 9.5% from 11% due to its COVID-19 outbreak, the Philippines' lowered to 6% from 7.9% and Malaysia's downgraded to 4.1% from 6.2%.In contrast, China's forecast was surged up to 8.3% from 8%, Brazil's was upgraded to 4.7% from 3.4%, Mexico's to 5.8% from 4.9% while those of South Africa, Poland, and Russia were lifted to 4.2%, 4.5%, and 3.7%, respectively, from 3.6%, 3.4%, and 3.3%.
"The top risk facing emerging market economies (EMs) is a slower-than-expected rollout of the vaccines," S&P's economists said in a news report, adding that the pandemic would only subside once vaccinations "reach a level consistent with herd immunity".
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