(Singapore, Feb 13, 2023) The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN is on track to become the world’s fourth-largest economy, Suryo Pratomo, Indonesia’s Ambassador to Singapore, said today.
Currently, with a combined population of more than 660 million, the 10-member trade bloc of ASEAN ranks as the fifth largest economy in the world, after the US, China, Japan and Germany, ASEAN’s statistics shows.
“Indonesia believes, and economists have also projected it well, that despite the threats of recession, ASEAN is on-track to become the fourth-largest economy in the world,” said the 61-year-old diplomat and former journalist during his opening remarks during Indonesia’s ABAC Road Show at the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore.
ABAC stands for ASEAN Business Advisory Council which was launched in April 2003 with the mandate to provide private sector feedback and guidance to boost ASEAN’s efforts towards economic integration. Indonesia is holding the Chairmanship of ASEAN for this year.
This year, ABAC has prepared seven legacy programs covering priority issues, including the promotion of cross-border QR Code as common digital payment & currency.
The ambassador said that Southeast Asia’s economy is likely to perform better than the global average economic growth.
“While the global growth in 2023 as forecasted by the IMF would be 2.7%, the ASEAN’s economic growth was predicted by the ADB to reach 4.7%,” he said, noting that this shows that ASEAN will still grow substantially faster than the global average, and subsequently maintains ASEAN as an attractive investment destination.
Gil L. Gonzales, Executive Director of ASEAN Business Advisory Council, said at today’s event that Singapore is a natural big brother in the region to elevate its economic growth.
He explained to Fortune Times that the island country, much due to its strength in governance and education, is playing a critical role in promoting the regional economy in both the private sector and political sector.
