The Asian Development Bank has trimmed its 2013 economic growth forecast for the Pacific region to 5 percent.
The PNG National paper reports that this comes on the back of lower-than-expected government capital spending in Timor-Leste, slower gold production in Solomon Islands and lower growth prospects in Kiribati and Nauru.
ADB's previous regional growth forecast for 2013 was 5 point 2 percent, following an expansion of 7 point 6 percent in 2012.
The director general of ADB's Pacific department, Xianbin Yao, says the slight downgrade in the growth forecast reflected largely short-term challenges faced by several Pacific economies.
He says despite the slight slowdown, a brighter outlook for the global economy is expected to spill over and likely raise the Pacific region's growth to 5.5 percent in 2014.
