Structural Themes Shaping the Opportunity in ASEAN Equities
Favorable demographics, combined with a number of unique investment themes, are creating a positive backdrop for ASEAN’s equity markets.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a unique investment region that primarily offers investors exposure to southeast Asian markets including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam (Figure 1). There are a number of constructive megatrends that are driving ASEAN’s longer-term growth, which we believe are critical to the future of global supply chains—and are shaping attractive growth opportunities.
For one, ASEAN today has the third-largest aggregated population in the world, behind China and India. The region’s GDP was also among the fastest growing in the world in 2023, estimated at 4.0%.1 This large and relatively young population, and an increasingly wealthy middle class, are further contributors, and indeed already driving exciting changes in consumption patterns.
Figure 1: ASEAN: A Dynamic and Fast-growing Region
ASEAN is an economic union of member states in Southeast Asia designed to target cooperation and accelerate economic growth. It includes some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and features an estimated population of more than 650 million.
These demographics, combined with a number of investment themes unfolding in the region—from the evolution of consumption behaviors, to supply chain enhancements, to technological upgrades, to the green transition—are presenting compelling opportunities in ASEAN companies.
1. Source: IMF World Economic Outlook. As of December 2023.
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