Pacific Economic Outlook (PEO) was among the PECC activities and engaged in cross-cutting research fields. It had the twin projects of PEO/Forecast and PEO/Structure, respectively dealing with short-term and longer-term macro-economic issues in the Pacific. Being the core projects of PECC, PEO/Forecast (under a Canadian coordinator) and PEO/Structure (under a Japanese coordinator) actively presented their reports to the meetings of PECC, and sometimes also to the Ministerial Meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

PEO/Structure presented mid-term or long-term economic outlooks for the Pacific region through analyses of structural economic issues. Recent research topics included : Monetary Policy Regimes ; Macro-financial Linkages and Financial Deepening ; External Adjustment under Increasing Integration ; Aging and Economic Growth Potentials ; and Macroeconomic Management under Debt Workouts. the secretariat was located in Japan.

PEO/ Forecast presented short-term economic outlooks for the Pacific region, publishing regional economic forecasts made by the coordinator and the relevant economists.
Since 2006, PEO/Forecast was the main contributor to "the State of the Region" (SOTR), a PECC Signature Project, focused on economic forecasts and risks. PEO/Forecast ceased activities in 2009, after which time "the State of the Region" project moved to the secretariat of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

The Secretariat was housed in APIR from November 1989. The Japan Committee liaised with PECC members, and domestic government agencies, in addition to administering the PEO research activities.