Trade with China driving ASEAN’s growth

Southeast Asia has been one of the most dynamic economic regions in the world over the past decade. In 2020, the region encompassing the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is forecast to continue to show sustained strong growth, helped by robust private consumption and public infrastructure investment, as well as monetary policy stimulus from recent policy easing by a number of ASEAN central banks.

A key driver of ASEAN’s strong growth over the past decade has been the rapid growth in bilateral trade with China. China has been ASEAN’s largest trading partner in the past 10 years, with bilateral trade reaching $292 billion in the first half of 2019.