Southeast Asia’s economy is expected to track global economic developments this year and grow by 4.4 percent, the Asian Development Bank said in its latest 2021 outlook on the economic recovery across Asia after the pandemic.
Southeast Asia, which includes the ten members of the ASEAN bloc plus Timor-Leste, is forecast to see its overall economy growing further in 2022, by 5.1 percent.
“Vaccination programs and expansionary monetary and fiscal policies are expected to underpin the revival of domestic demand,” the Asian Development Bank said about Southeast Asia’s economic prospects for 2021.
All economies in ASEAN except for Myanmar are set to grow this year and next, the ADB reckons.
Indonesia will see 4.5 percent economic growth in 2021 and 5.0 percent growth in 2022. Malaysia’s economy is set for a 6.0 percent rise this year and 5.7-percent growth next year. The Philippines economy is expected to grow by 4.5 percent in 2021 and by 5.5 percent in 2022. Singapore’s GDP growth is forecast at 6.0 percent and 4.1 percent in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Thailand’s economy will grow by 3.0 percent this year and 4.5 percent next year, while Vietnam will see GDP growth of 6.7 percent in 2021 and 7.0 percent in 2022.
“In the Philippines, fiscal stimulus from spending on infrastructure and social assistance will promote a bounce back. Brunei Darussalam and Viet Nam, which did not go into recession in 2020, will see their economies expand further in the coming years,” the Asian Development Bank said in its outlook.