Southeast Asia is set to be an integrated economy under
the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015. Our Head of
APAC gives an update on the progress of the
integration.
Last year, ASEAN member states sailed through the gloomy global
economic outlook and expanded 4.4%. The region's economy is
expected to exceed the projected average global economic growth of
3.5% by growing another 4.9% this year.
The strong growth in ASEAN is driven by strong domestic
consumption and solid inbound Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The
region attracted a total of US$136.2bn in FDI (a 15.7% increase
from 2013) and overtook that of China for the second consecutive
year. Going forward, FDI inflows to ASEAN will continue to be
robust as a result of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)
implementation.
