In 2022, The Edge Singapore examined Asean’s decade of “healthy reset”, underscoring the factors that would support the region in the short, medium and long term. However, Asean equities continued to be under-allocated among global investors last year.
Despite a boost from the China+1 strategy and the inflow of foreign direct investments, what the region needs is more high-performing stocks.
The Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region can benefit from long-term trends like favourable demographics, increased banking access, faster digital adoption and improved connectivity. However, challenges such as a strong US dollar, declining export demand and political instability have made Asean less appealing to global investors, who focus more on emerging markets (EMs) like India, Mexico and China.
