Illustrative image (Photo: https://www.malaymail.com/) Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Vietnamis among the six ASEAN economies forecast to grow by 4.2% in 2023, outpacing the globalgross domestic product (GDP) growth of 2%, according to Maybank Group president and chiefexecutive officer (CEO) Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli.
Opening the ongoing hybrid conference Maybank InvestASEAN 2023 themed “ASEAN Reboot: Reimagining The Future” held by Maybank inSingapore from June 20-21, Ramli emphasised the resilience of ASEAN after the COVID-19 pandemic.
He noted that with a combinedpopulation of over 660 million and a collective GDP of almost 3.66 trillion USDin 2022, ASEAN ranks as the third largest regional economy in Asia and thefifth biggest economy in the world, after the US, China, Japan, and Germany.
Foreign direct investment(FDI) inflows to ASEAN rebounded in 2021 to 174 billion USD, up 42% from theprevious year, reflecting the attractiveness of the region’s economy for globalinvestors.
ASEAN’s resilience was evident inportfolio fund flows, he said, noting that “even when foreign investors pulledout of equities last year, there was a sufficiently deep domestic investor basein the region to absorb the volatility”.
Anotherarea of optimism for the region's economy is on digitalisation, particularly inthe financial service sector, he added./.
