Young, dynamic and fast, the region has unique advantages, supported by investment in infrastructure, talent, policy and collaboration.

IN the global race for artificial intelligence development, Southeast Asia is emerging as an unexpected contender. Traditionally, discussions around AI innovation have focused on the United States and China, but South-east Asia’s unique combination of adaptability, dynamism and strategic investments is positioning it as a critical player in shaping the AI landscape.

Characterised by targeted investments in infrastructure, localised innovation and government-backed strategies to foster growth, the region is narrowing the gap by establishing Ai-ready data centres, creating tailored language models and encouraging cross-sector collaboration. Its focus on addressing real-world challenges also makes it a player to watch.

The region is one of the world’s most economically significant, and its young and burgeoning middle class of 200 million people is the driving force behind its rapid digital transformation. Last year, Southeast Asia’s digital economy achieved Us$11bil (Rm49.4bil) in profits, up from Us$4bil just two years before. By 2050, Indonesia is projected to become the world’s fourth-largest economy, while Malaysia and Thailand are expected to have economies exceeding US$1 trillion (RM4.5 trillion) each.

Substantial investments in digital infrastructure underpin this growth. In the first half of last year alone, over Us$30bil (Rm134.6bil) of investments were committed to building Ai-ready data centres in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

These efforts are creating advanced computing capabilities and positioning the region as a global leader in Ai-driven innovation. Fuelled by a digitally adept population, countries and businesses are seeking AI solutions to address societal and industrial challenges.

South-east Asia is carving a unique niche in AI by focusing on both practical applications and collaborative innovation across industries such as logistics, healthcare and education. AI start-ups in the region are working on solutions that can enhance operational efficiency and safety compliance.

One such example is Seewise, an Ai-powered factory monitoring tool that uses computer vision and machine learning to improve productivity and quality in real-time. Similarly, Heyhi, an educational technology pioneer, combines AI and data to deliver personalised learning experiences while automating grading and reporting tasks for educators.

These innovations are not just transforming local markets but also gaining traction globally, with the region being recognised for its ability to move quickly.

A report by Singapore-owned investment company Temasek Holdings, Google and global consultancy Bain & Company found that businesses in South-east Asia can transition from idea to full-scale production in under six months, with 70% of organisations achieving a return on investment within a year of implementation.

This efficiency is not unique to the region. What sets South-east Asia apart is its focus on partnerships between regions and industries, which are key for start-ups. For instance, the Asean committee on science, technology and innovation has an AI cooperation framework to develop and collaborate on AI across the members of Asean.

Private-sector efforts, such as Nvidia’s partnership with the Vietnamese government to establish an AI research and development centre, reinforce these trends and help translate AI research into high-impact solutions.

Strategic initiatives from governments and private-sector stakeholders are fostering innovation through robust governance frameworks and talent development programmes. Asean’s AI governance guide, for example, advocates a coordinated approach to regulatory challenges, while programmes aimed at upskilling talent are laying the foundation for sustainable growth.

Governments are implementing frameworks for responsible AI. For instance, Singapore’s model AI governance framework promotes ethical AI practices, while initiatives like AI Trailblazers, led by Google Cloud and government body Digital Industry Singapore, empower organisations to develop and deploy real-world AI solutions rapidly. This balance between innovation and accountability is enabling South-east Asia to scale up AI solutions effectively, meeting both local needs and global expectations.

Despite its potential, however, South-east Asia still faces several challenges, with talent shortages a significant hurdle. Globally, up to 70% of data, security and development roles are estimated to be going unfilled. This gap is compounded by the region’s demand for both technical expertise in building AI systems and the domain-specific knowledge needed to implement them effectively.

Infrastructural disparities present another obstacle. While Singapore leads with its advanced data centres and frameworks like the national AI strategy, there is uneven digital development and inconsistent regulatory capacities across the rest of the region. Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, for instance, is in the bottom half of the AI preparedness rankings compiled by US software company Salesforce on 12 countries across the Asia-pacific – which Singapore tops.

The challenges some nations face in catching up include high adoption costs, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises, and limited access to localised AI solutions, which are vital in a region with over 1,000 languages and many diverse cultures.

Efforts to address these issues include Ai-driven platforms designed to optimise supply chains and improve productivity in manufacturing and healthcare.

Cross-border hiring is also an emerging strategy, with countries like Indonesia and Vietnam supplying skilled professionals to meet growing demand.

At the same time, localised AI models are being developed to address linguistic and cultural barriers. Sony Research, for instance, has a partnership with AI Singapore to create a Southeast Asian family of large language models.

As AI adoption becomes mainstream, South-east Asia’s potential in the AI race is undeniable. Realising this potential, however, will require sustained investment in infrastructure, talent and policy support.

Collaboration, both within the region and with global partners, will remain critical. By embracing its unique strengths and addressing its challenges head on, South-east Asia is poised to not only catch up with established AI powerhouses but also set a new standard for innovation, regulation and impact.

Source: The Star/ South China Morning Post

Next AI powerhouse: SE-Asia

Asean is on a positive trajectory to emerge as the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2030 from its current fifth, given its progressive and significant macroeconomic environment.

Asean Economic Community (AEC) Deputy Secretary-General Satvinder Singh said this includes its gross domestic product (GDP) which soared 51 per cent to US$3.8 trillion last year versus US$2.5 trillion (US$1=RM4.47) in 2015.

This was further reinforced by regional trade which rose to US$3.5 trillion in 2023 from US$2.3 trillion in 2015, which helped raise per capita income significantly.

This reflects Asean’s persistent commitment to becoming an open economic region for global trade and investment, which has improved significantly, he said in his keynote address at a conference “Vision 2045: Age of Asean” organised by the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) on Tuesday and co-hosted by the Asean Business Advisory Council and Boston Consulting Group.

“What’s important is, we are one of the very few regions in the world where our trade is almost as large as our GDP (and) the biggest component of trade is not our trade with China or the United States, but our intraAsian trade, which is somewhere close to US$800 trillion.

“What we are trying to say is, as much as we have grown as the largest trade component, we have also grown a lot in terms of our trade with the rest of the world,” he said.

This is the uniqueness of economies within the Asean bloc, unlike the European Union or the North American Free Trade Area where “they like to trade with each other.”

For Canada, Mexico and the European Union (EU), most of the countries trade with each other and not with the rest of the world.

“So, this is the uniqueness of Asean. We are strong in Asia, and at the same time, we are (also) strong globally trading in goods and services,” he said.

Satvinder said in the global south, Asean is also the largest recipient of foreign direct investments totalling about US$230 billion to-date.

He said the global supply chain of companies with low carbon footprints and high-value activities is more likely to be in Asean countries in the coming years.

Some of the sectors to see significant growth include semiconductors, agriculture, data equipment as well as minerals and the metals industries.

Besides this, “the sweet spot for Asean is technology transformation and that frontier technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, are going to create another US$8 trillion,” he said.

Nonetheless, Asean should work hard to reduce the cost of technology across their economies and ensure regional economies have access to technological devices and solutions.

Despite these economic positives, Satvinder expressed concern that the region’s young workers are expected to decrease while ageing workers are estimated to increase marginally, presenting the risk of skills mismatch.

Across member countries, automation will also affect the different types of occupations.

“Therefore, reskilling young workers in technology and innovation through technology management hubs, online education platforms for science, technology and innovation and upskilling the elderly, will instil productivity and help strategic industries to move up,” he said.

Source: Bernama

Asean on track to become world’s fourth largest economy by 2030

South-East Asia could unlock US$300 billion (S$407 billion – RM1.43 trillion) in additional annual revenues from green investments by 2030 if governments step up cooperation on regional grids and carbon markets and offer better incentives for clean energy and clearer rules on green financing, says a report released on April 15.

The rapidly growing region of nearly 700 million people remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels for energy. However, it faces a narrow window of opportunity to step up green investment to rein in the rapid growth of greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change, says the report by Bain & Company, GenZero, Standard Chartered and Temasek.

Titled South-east Asia’s Green Economy 2024 – Moving The Needle, the report outlines a range of opportunities for the region to cut greenhouse gas emissions and meet national climate targets, while also improving energy and food security. What is missing is US$1.5 trillion in finance, policy incentives and regional cooperation to make this happen, according to the authors.

A key theme of the report is that many of the green investments can be deployed now and rapidly scaled up to make a real difference in cutting planet-warming emissions that are also causing air pollution across the region.

“In South-east Asia, we’re seeing opportunities that are extremely actionable in the near term,” said Ms Kimberly Tan, head of investments at GenZero, an investment platform founded by Temasek that is focused on accelerating decarbonisation. “We believe that investments into the green economy could generate as much US$300 billion in annual revenues by 2030.”

Nature and agriculture, transport and power generation represent US$220 billion of the total revenues. For example, investments in sustainable rice cultivation could cut water use and emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Nature-based solutions such as protecting rainforests and replanting mangroves could suck planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air while benefiting local communities – mangroves are excellent fish nurseries and protect coastlines from storms.

Ramping up deployment of wind, solar and battery storage could help the region cut its reliance on coal and gas for power generation, while mandates on energy efficiency in buildings could also reduce electricity demand growth.

These are among 13 investable ideas across four sectorial themes: nature and agriculture, power generation, transport and buildings highlighted by the report, which was released on the sidelines of Ecosperity Week 2024 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

But the financing gap remains vast. The report says green investments in the region rose 20 per cent year on year in 2023 to US$6.3 billion. But this is a fraction of the US$1.5 trillion needed to accelerate South-east Asia’s green transition and to meet its 2030 climate pledges under the United Nations Paris climate agreement.

Mr Dale Hardcastle, director of the global sustainability innovation centre at Bain & Company, told a media briefing on April 11: “Immense potential exists to accelerate the energy transition and build the green economy. We need to start with what we can do here and now, and not miss the opportunity at hand.”

The region’s 10 economies are rapidly growing and will need major investments in energy, especially renewable energy for power generation, in the decades ahead.

For instance, the 7th Asean Energy Outlook, a 2022 report by the Asean Centre for Energy, estimates that electricity generation capacity will more than double between 2025 and 2050 based on the region’s current climate policies. Total energy-related greenhouse gas emissions will also double by 2050 to four billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

But with the jump in emissions come growing climate risks, notes the report, with Asean already one of the regions highly vulnerable to increasing heat, more intense storms and floods, and rising sea levels.

By 2030, the region needs to cut emissions by a total of 2.4 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent if it is to meet national climate pledges, the report says.

Asked what is holding the region back, Mr Hardcastle offered three reasons.

“There’s the challenge of competing priorities for governments,” he said. “Leaders not only have to balance thinking about the post-Covid-19 world, but they also have to balance rapidly growing economies and the need to increase energy.” He pointed to millions of people still without access to the power grid.

The second challenge is incumbency, which is the region’s deep dependency on fossil fuels for energy. And in some Asean nations, coal, oil and gas are also major sources of export earnings.

Mr Hardcastle pointed to the region’s large and young fleet of coal-fired power stations. Closing these down early and replacing them with renewable energy is a very costly challenge, though efforts are under way to try to figure out how to do this.

“Thirdly, we’ve still not had sufficient incentives or access to capital to be able to move at the pace that we want,” he said. But he noted progress in new types of financing that help lower the cost and risk of green investments, such as blended finance. This combines public and private money, such as grants, concessional loans and commercial capital.

“The change and the transformation we’re seeking… is unprecedented,” he added.

Ms Tan pointed to the region’s low level of renewable energy deployment and nascent electric vehicle industry. Much of its agriculture also remains unsophisticated compared with the large-scale farms in the West, mainly because many smallholders do not have access to technology.

“Many of these decarbonisation investment ideas will take time, but you definitely need to act as soon as possible,” she said.

Sorce: The Straits Times/ANN/The Star

Asean could reap RM1.43 trillion in extra revenues if green investments are scaled up, says report

Electrical vehicle (EV) adoption in Asean will continue to increase due to favourable regulations, launch of new models at lower prices by Chinese EV makers as well as large automotive production base and significant demand in the region, according to analysts.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd (Maybank IB) said six markets reported a four-fold jump in fully electric (FE) car sales to 141,095, of which Thailand and Vietnam were the top two countries, forming 77 per cent of the sales in 2023.

“Indonesia had FE car sales of 17,062, (+65 per cent) year-on-year (yoy) and Malaysia saw 10,159 sold (+286 per cent) yoy.”

“Overall, FE share of car sales was 6.2 per cent for ASEAN-6 markets in 2023 versus 1.6 per cent in 2022.”

“As more low-priced EV models are launched in 2024 and 2025, we expect Asean’s EV adoption rate to increase further. Another driver would be direct subsidies to buyers and the addition of charging points,” the bank said in a research note today.

Maybank IB said regulatory push and cheaper EVs are the key to EV adoption, which is clearly visible in the EV adoption in Thailand.

“Thailand is offering cash subsidy to EV buyers as well as lower excise and import duty for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the Thai government is also incentivising local manufacturing.

“Indonesia is offering duty cuts and pushing domestic manufacturing. The other way to push EV sales would be to increase the prices of petrol by reducing subsidies, which can be adopted by Malaysia. Finally, cheaper EVs, a game mastered by Chinese OEMs, will make it difficult for Japanese/Korean OEMs to compete in Asean markets,” it added.

Globally, the sales of electric car sales reached 14 million in 2023, (+34 per cent) yoy, making up 19 per cent of total car sales.

“A forecast expects EV car sales growth to slow in 2024 to 22 per cent yoy due to saturation in China and Europe, and uncertainty in the US ahead of the November presidential election and policy continuity. Weak sales by the leading EV companies in the first quarter this year confirms this concern,“ it said.

Source: Bernama

Asean to sustain EV growth on low base while world market slows

Expansion into Southeast Asia is a priority of Tesla, Rohan Patel, a senior executive of the United States (US) automotive company, said on March 12, highlighting the fast-growing market where the company faces competition from China’s BYD.

In his recent post on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, the senior public policy and business development executive at Tesla said that Southeast Asia will undoubtedly be a major place of growth over the coming years in battery storage and electric vehicle (EV) adoption, noting that the region has emerged as one of the hottest EV markets in recent years and could offer Tesla a large customer base at a time when demand is slowing in the US, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.

The Malaysian government had last year given Tesla the license to sell its cars in the country and said the firm would also establish a network of charging stations there.

Tesla is also in talks for expanding its operations in other countries, including in Thailand, which is Southeast Asia’s largest car producer and exporter.

A Thai government official said earlier this month that the company had discussed a potential production facility after surveying a site late in 2023.

However, Tesla’s ambitions for Southeast Asia will face competition from BYD, which has overtook rivals to account for more than a quarter of the EVs sold in the region.

In contrast with Tesla’s direct-to-consumer approach, BYD has partnered with large, local conglomerates that have allowed the carmaker to expand reach, test consumer preferences and navigate complex government regulations in the region.

The Chinese EV maker sold more than 26 per cent of all cars in Southeast Asia’s small but fast-growing EV market in the second quarter of 2023, while Tesla accounted for about 8 per cent according to the Hong Kong-based industry analysis firm Counterpoint.

EVs constituted 6.4 per cent of all passenger vehicle sales in the region in the quarter, up from 3.8 per cent in the preceding quarter.

Source: Bernama

Southeast Asia becomes Tesla’s priority for expansion

Southeast Asia’s favourable demographics, industrialisation and urbanisation trends and technological advances will increasingly make it an economic powerhouse to 2040 and beyond, hence, making it a major opportunity for Australian business.

Based on the Invested: Australia’s South East Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, a report developed by Special Envoy for Southeast Asia Nicholas Moore, Southeast Asia and Australia share bright economic growth prospects, geographical proximity, economic complementarity, and a need for trade diversification.

The report, which is a blueprint for deepening Australia’s economic engagement with the Asean region, was launched by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in September last year.

In preparing the report, Moore met with more than 750 individuals in Southeast Asia and Australia across governments, businesses and civil society, and received around 200 submissions through a public consultation process.

“When I was putting together this report, I met with over 700 different people and we received over 200 submissions, all reflected this confidence in terms of the importance of how the regions are to Australia,” said Moore in his small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) conference keynote address during the 2024 Asean-Australia Special Summit at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), here today.

The three-day summit marks the 50th anniversary of Australia’s dialogue partnership with Asean.

The strategy outlines a practical pathway to significantly increase two-way trade and investment between Australia and Southeast Asia.

The Australian government is considering the 75 recommendations included in the report.

Four categories of required actions to realise the commercial potential between Australia and Southeast Asia as outlined in the report are raising awareness, removing blockages, building capacity and deepening investment.

The strategy examines 10 priority sectors, namely agriculture and food; resources; green energy transition; infrastructure; education and skills; visitor economy; healthcare; digital economy; professional and financial services; and creative industries.

The Australian government will support the immediate implementation of the strategy through three priority initiatives; which are investment deal teams with new dedicated public and private sector teams to identify, develop and facilitate investment in commercial projects in the region.

Another initiative is having a Southeast Asia Business Exchange Programme to grow trade through targeted sectoral business missions to help SMEs enter the market, including a Southeast Asia trade and investment promotion campaign in Australia.

The last one is developing a pilot exchange programme for young professionals with Australian and Southeast Asian businesses to foster enduring commercial links.

Source: Bernama

Southeast Asia could turn into economic powerhouse by 2040 — Report

Southeast Asia will account for 10 per cent of Asia’s total solar capacity by 2030, encompassing ground-mounted, rooftop and global floating photovoltaic (FPV) installations, mirroring the broader Asian region’s dominance of the global FPV market, according to research by Rystad Energy.

The Norwegian energy research and business intelligence company said countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand are well-positioned to be at the forefront of this growing trend, using FPV to increase clean energy generation capacity.

Operational FPV projects in Southeast Asia currently amount to around 500 megawatts (MW) altogether, and an anticipated 300 MW of FPV capacity is expected to be added across Southeast Asia in early 2024 alone, according to Rystad Energy’s data.

Its head of Asia renewables and power research, Jun Yee Chew, said FPVs had emerged as a game-changer for Southeast Asia, catalysing the region’s push towards clean energy by maximising its abundant solar resources and overcoming limited land availability.

“Their modular design allows for integration with existing hydropower dams and unlocks tremendous opportunities for hydropower-rich nations like Laos, Thailand and Indonesia.

“Additionally, with land rights a major deterrent facing solar developers in Southeast Asia, as much of the land is used for agriculture, FPVs provide a solution for the coexistence of solar farms and agriculture,” he said.

Rystad Energy said solar photovoltaic capacity additions were poised to be a central pillar of Southeast Asia’s energy future, with floating installations primed to play a critical role.

However, it said addressing land rights was a pivotal challenge for solar developers in Southeast Asia due to the predominant use of available land for agricultural purposes.

“The region grapples with a scarcity of suitable sites for solar farms, intensifying the need for innovative solutions. In particular, FPVs have emerged as a viable option, leveraging bodies of water adjacent to agricultural areas. This approach not only circumvents land access tensions but also presents a potential blueprint for other countries grappling with similar issues,” it added.

Source: Bernama

Southeast Asia to account for 10 pct of Asia’s total solar capacity by 2030

ASEAN’s outlook is of oneness – one vision, one identity and one community. But it is a vision that the turbulence caused by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, rapid digital transformation and challenging geopolitics and economics is shaking.

Engendering greater trust among Asean member states in its policy tools and vision, is paramount to its progress and aspiration of developing a community of opportunities for all. One such huge opportunity is its digital economy, which it is estimated will grow from its current size of approximately US$300bil (RM1.4 trillion) to almost US$1 trillion (RM4.6 trillion) by 2030.

Asean is one of the world’s fastest growing regions with average real GDP growth forecast to reach 4.6% in 2023 and 4.8% in 2024. By 2030, it is expected to be the fourth-largest economy in the world. This dynamism is driven by a population of 700 million, composed of young, educated, increasingly online individuals and a growing middle-class.

For many people in the region, especially its youth, the integration of digital technologies into their everyday lives has changed the way they consume information, buy goods and services, use financial services and interact with government. Positively, governments regionwide have recognised the importance of harnessing the ongoing digital transformation for good and deployed policies to foster a thriving regional digital economy. Standing as a challenge to this are the region’s socio-economic differences, levels of development and disparate regulatory regimes.

Common policy tools, regulation and legislation are key means to address these challenges. Among these is the Asean Digital Masterplan 2025 and the Bandar Seri Begawan Roadmap (BSBR). The masterplan is designed to provide a vision of what Asean’s digital society and economy will look like, while the roadmap offers a plan for the region’s digital transformation agenda to accelerate its digital economy integration through the adoption of the Asean Digital Economy Framework Agreement (Defa).

With the vision and plan in place, the Asean Defa has the potential to transform the region. It’s the world’s first region-wide digital economy agreement, and as such, could offer a blueprint for how to achieve harmonisation among nations who are at different stages of digital integration. It also allows Asean to design an agreement that works for all member states, taking into consideration the different levels of socio-economic development, rather than rely on models created in other parts of the world.

Among the topics for negotiation will be digital trade, cross-border e-commerce, cybersecurity and online safety, digital ID, digital payments, data flows, competition policy, digital skills and talent mobility as well as emerging topics such as artificial intelligence. Asean member states recognise the enormous economic potential that can be reaped from the digital economy, and that digital transformation is a foundational strategy for economic growth and prosperity.

By engaging in the Defa negotiations, the grouping’s member states are building trust for business as well as investors in an inclusive and sustainable Asean digital economy, paving the way for economic development, job creation and investment opportunities.

If planned out in an inclusive way, the Asean Defa will create an environment designed to empower and connect micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to regional and global markets, facilitate digital skills development and generate quality employment (including for women, youth, and rural communities) as well as strengthen collective and individual economic competitiveness and resilience.

Early progress is heartening. Countries at the subregional level already collaborate to facilitate the use of digital technologies for cross-border payments. Thailand and Singapore have been at the forefront of this; their PromptPay and PayNow systems enable instant, low-cost mobile transfers using just a recipient’s phone number.

This shows what is possible, and as Asean embarks on negotiating the Asean Defa, it is important that an inclusive process of consultations is used to ensure everyone’s voice is heard. This will help build trust in the process of building an inclusive and sustainable Asean digital economy.

To facilitate these moves, the World Economic Forum, in cooperation with the Asean -Korea Cooperation Fund, has launched the Asean Digital Economy Agreement Leadership (Asean Deal) project. This aims to support Asean member states address preparedness, overcome challenges and reap the benefits of digital economy agreements.

This is achieved through the provision of capacity building activities, an online depository of digital economy agreements, and annual business surveys and dialogue on digital economy topics. The project also offers inputs to negotiations from stakeholders in academia, civil society, the private sector, and other regions where the implementation of digital policies has shown positive results.

Creating a strong integrated digital economy will enable Asean to compete more effectively in the global economy and provide greater opportunities for its citizens. A region-wide digital economy framework will require collaboration, but will in turn, engender greater levels of trust, and if successful, will foster the goal of a stronger, unified, one Asean. — Asia News Network

Joo-Ok Lee is World Economic Forum’s Asia-Pacific regional agenda head. This article was published as part of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 discussions.

Source: The Star

How Asean is building trust in its digital economy

Economic growth in Asia Pacific (APAC) will generally remain strong in 2024, especially in emerging markets (EMs), supporting sector outlooks across the region. 

Fitch Ratings expects real gross domestic product (GDP) to expand by or above 5.0 per cent in India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and China’s performance will still be strong by most other countries’ standards.

“Robust regional economic growth – particularly in Asia’s large emerging markets – should offset headwinds from slowing growth in China, weak global demand and high interest rates, helping to support performance across sectors in APAC in 2024,” said its senior director Duncan Innes-Ker.

According to Fitch Rating, growth in APAC EMs should buoy loan demand and limit the potential adverse effects on asset quality from interest rates, which we believe have largely peaked across the region. 

The rating agency said the peaking of the rate cycle will affect APAC developed markets’ (DM) banking sectors more than those in EMs. 

“We expect net interest margins (NIMs) and non-performing loan ratios to come under pressure in DMs in 2024, but the degree of weakening will generally be modest,” it said. 

Fitch said slower economic growth, lower rates and the government’s adapting policy response will add to headwinds faced by several sectors in China, reflected in a number of deteriorating outlooks, notably for property developers and banks.

It also said Sino-US tensions had eased recently, but it expects relations to remain challenging, which will lead companies to pursue further supply-chain diversification to limit exposure to geopolitical risks. 

“These trends could be a significant factor for outlooks in several sectors, particularly industrial and technology, and may also influence investment and growth prospects for some sovereigns such as Singapore, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam,” it added.

Source: NST

Asia Pacific’s economic growth to remain strong in 2024: Fitch