Southeast Asia’s economy will overtake
Japan’s by 2025, according to the latest prediction from Singapore’s
United Overseas Bank (UOB).
The bank projects that even at an
average growth rate of two-thirds of the pace between 2001-2013, the
combined economy of the 10-member Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) would pass 4 trillion USD in 2020 and 9 trillion USD in
2030, which means that ASEAN will surpass the UK in 2020 and Japan in
2025.
UOB’s economic expert Suan Teck Kin said China’s increasing
economic prominence and next year’s establishment of the ASEAN Economic
Community (AEC) will provide new catalysts for the bloc’s economic
growth.
Additionally, ASEAN will become one of the world fastest
growing consumer markets with the expansion of the middle class across
the region. This, together with AEC’s commitment to a unite market
and production base, would also strengthen ASEAN’s place in the
international economy.
ASEAN’s contribution to global trade is
projected to rise from 6.7 percent of last year to nearly 8 percent in
2030, while market shares of other regions, for example the Euro zone,
are being narrowed.-VNA