APRILASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK8Astudy by Morgan Stanley economists says Asia's economic growth could outpace that of developed countries by five percent by the end of 2023, thanks to China's relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, strong domestic demand, and interest rates remaining in less restrictive territory.The recent banking stress in the United States and Europe strengthens the case for Asia's out performance, according to MS Asia economists led by Chetan Ahya in a Tuesday note."Lending standards will tighten in the United States and Europe, weighing on domestic demand", Ahya wrote. "While this will spill over to Asia in the form of a constrained external demand recovery, we believe Asia will still be able to generate sufficient domestic demand to allow growth differentials to shift in Asia's favour".A five percent increase over developed markets would be the strongest since 2017, according to MS. The Federal Reserve of the United States and the European Central Bank raised interest rates by 475 basis points and 350 basis points, respectively, in an effort to contain inflation - their most aggressive pace in recent times - but the rate-hike cycle in Asia was more subdued, they note.Furthermore, China's reopening benefits the rest of the region, while Asia's other three major economies - Japan, India, and Indonesia - all have economy-specific factors driving domestic demand, according to MS. In response to state news agency QNA, China's state-owned oil and gas giant Sinopec will take a five percent stake in Qatar's North Field East expansion, which is part of the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Sinopec did not respond immediately to a request for comment. QatarEnergy previously stated that it could offer up to a five percent stake in the project to some buyers, whom Qatar Energy CEO Saad al-Kaabi referred to as "value-added partners".Last November, Sinopec signed an agreement with QatarEnergy to supply 4 million tonnes of LNG annually for the next 27 years, making it the longest LNG contract ever signed by Qatar. Sinopec stated at the time that the agreement was part of an "integrated partnership", implying that the Chinese firm was considering acquiring a stake in Qatar's North Field expansion export facility.QatarEnergy signed five contracts last year for North Field East, the first and larger phase of the two-phase North Field expansion plan, which includes six LNG trains that will increase Qatar's liquefaction capacity to 126 million tonnes per year by 2027 from 77 million tonnes now. It also signed three agreements for collaboration on the Gulf Arab state's North Field South expansion.QatarEnergy has stated that it intends to retain a 75 percent stake in the North Field expansion, which is expected to cost at least $30 billion, including the construction of liquefaction export facilities. The North Field is part of the world's largest gas field, which Qatar shares with Iran, which refers to its portion as the South Pars. NEWSROOMMORGAN STANLEY VIEW ASIAN ECONOMY GROWTH FAVORABLY COMPARED TO OTHER ECONOMIESCHINA'S SINOPEC TO TAKE FIVE PERCENT STAKE IN QATAR'S LNG PROJECT
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