| The swift decline of prices for commodities from crude oil to coal exposes how some Asia-Pacific economies reliant on those exports have struggled to find new sources of growth. The Federal Reserve’s plans to raise interest rates later this year, coupled with a resurgent U.S. dollar, sparked the current rout in commodities prices.
Yet China’s slowing demand had started the trend as early as 2012. Since then, policy makers from Australia to Indonesia have called for plans to develop new sectors of their economies. The latest tumble highlights the shortcomings of those overhauls, analysts say. The problem is that new industries haven’t yet filled the hole left by commodities-driven growth, said Paul Dales, chief economist for Australia and New Zealand at Capital Economics, a research firm...............................................Full Article: Source
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