Chang Yong Rhee: The future of Asia - can it remain the engine of global growth?
Keynote speech by Mr Chang Yong Rhee, Governor of the Bank of Korea, at the "Asia in 2050 Conference", organised by the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of Thailand, Bangkok, 5 March 2026.
The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.
Sawatdi khrap.
Thank you for inviting me today. I would like to express my gratitude to Managing Director Georgieva, Governor Ratanakorn, Director Srinivasan, my friends at the Fund and the Bank of Thailand for organizing this conference. I also wish the IMF Annual Meetings here in Bangkok this October a great success.
I was asked to speak on the Future of Asia. As a central banker, it would be natural to focus on monetary policy-but monetary policy alone does not fully capture what lies ahead for Asia. So today, not as the Governor of the Bank of Korea, but as an economist with Asia's economy close to heart and who loves Thai food, I will speak about the realities Asia faces and the challenges ahead.
1. Asia's Rise and the Road Ahead
To talk about Asia is to talk about half of humanity. Since 1991, when Thailand last hosted the IMF Annual Meetings, Asia's per capita GDP has grown nearly eightfold. All 13 countries then classified as low-income have since reached middle-income status, lifting over 1.2 billion people out of poverty. To be sure, China was a major driver, but even excluding China, Asian incomes rose 4.5 times-well above the 3.1 times seen in the rest of the world.