South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic and geopolitical organisation of eight countries that are primarily located in South Asia or the Indian subcontinent. The SAARC Secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The combined economy of SAARC is the third largest in the world in the terms of GDP (PPP) after the United States and China and fifth largest in the terms of nominal GDP. SAARC nations comprise 3% of the world's area and contain 21% (around 1.7 billion) of the world's total population and around 9.12% of the global economy as of 2015. SAARC also home to the world's third and seventh largest economy in GPP (PPP) & GDP (nominal) terms respectively, as well as the world's fastest growing major economy, that is India. India makes up over 70% of the area and population among these eight nations. During 2005-10, the average GDP growth rate of SAARC stood at an impressive 8.8% p.a., but it slowed to 6.5% in 2011 largely because of economic slowdown in India, which accounts for nearly 80% of SAARC's economy. But driven by a strong expansion in India, coupled with favorable oil prices,from the last quarter of 2014 South Asia once again become the fastest-growing region in the world. As of 2015 foreign exchange reserves of SAARC nations stands at USD 411 billion.