Speaking at the opening of the ASEAN Investment Conference organized by Maybank Group in Singapore, Khairussaleh Ramli noted that with a combined population of over 660 million and a collective GDP of almost US $3.66 trillion in 2022, ASEAN ranks as the third largest regional economy in Asia and the fifth biggest economy in the world, after the US, China, Japan, and Germany.

Not only one of the biggest, fastest growing regional economies, ASEAN is also proving its resilience after the global pandemic. One of the examples is the six ASEAN economies expected to grow by 4.2 % in 2023, outpacing the projected 2% global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, one of them being Vietnam.

Also, Indermit Gill, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of World Bank Group, said in the latest data report for Southeast Asia's economic growth that Vietnam's growth rate is leading in Southeast Asia, and also higher than the world growth rate of 2.8%.

"[The global merchandise trade] is likely to affect the performance of a number of economies where trade is a key driver of growth, particularly in Malaysia and Vietnam, where growth is forecast to be moderate," as stated in the report.

Opening the hybrid conference Maybank Invest ASEAN 2023 themed “ASEAN Reboot: Reimagining The Future” held by Maybank in Singapore from June 20-21, Ramli emphasized the resilience of the region after the COVID-19 pandemic (Photo: Maybank Twitter).

Meanwhile, at the Maybank Invest ASEAN 2023 conference, themed “ASEAN Reboot: Reimagining The Future” held by Maybank in Singapore from June 20-21, regional experts stated that Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to ASEAN rebounded in 2021 to US $174 billion USD, up 42% from the previous year, reflecting the attractiveness of the region’s economy for global investors.

ASEAN’s resilience was evident in portfolio fund flows, Khairussaleh Ramli said, noting that “even when foreign investors pulled out of equities last year, there was a sufficiently deep domestic investor base in the region to absorb the volatility”.

Another area of optimism for the region's economy is on digitalization, particularly in the financial service sector. In particualr, the rapid growth of e-commerce in recent years has created a golden opportunity for businesses to enter the export market more conveniently, heard a workshop on supporting businesses to participate in cross-border e-commerce in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Ho Chi Minh City on June 21.

In Vietnam, cross-border e-commerce has been assessed to have great potential and it is in line with policies on the development of the digital economy set forth by the government, and at the same time, this will be an effective supplementary channel for traditional international trade to bring into play advantages of technology, helping Vietnamese products reach more to customers worldwide, VNA reported.

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