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ASEAN countries fighting financial crisis

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-10 15:04

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) consists of 10 countries that have different economic structures and different development models, but all have been hit by the global financial crisis.

According to an estimate by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the average growth rate of Asian developing economies would be 3.4percent, much lower than the 6.3 percent in 2008, and the lowest since the 1990s Asian financial crisis.

The export-oriented economies of ASEAN, including Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, have been influenced by outside factors. The decline in demand has directly hit them.

Vietnam's exports (except gold) in the first quarter dropped 15 percent in comparison with last year, because demand from the United States, Japan and EU markets had all declined. Some export-oriented companies have stopped production and are on the verge of bankruptcy. The General Statistics Office of Vietnam said the economic growth rate had slowed to 3.1 percent in the first quarter.

Thailand's Ministry of Commerce said the country's exports dropped 26.5 percent and 11.3 percent respectively in January and February. The Ministry of Finance predicted the economy would suffer a negative growth rate of 2.5 percent this year due to sharply declining exports.

Malaysia's economic growth slowed down last year due to a sharp decline in exports, Its growth rate was only 4.6 percent compared to 6.3 percent in 2007.

The country's exports continued to slide in February 2009, 15.9 percent down compared to last year, according to newly released data.

Singapore has suffered an even a bigger loss. The global financial crisis has hit hard the country's manufacturing industry.

Singapore entered a recession since the third quarter of last year, with an annual growth rate of only 1.1 percent, far below the 7.8 percent rate in 2007.

The growth rate in 2009 will be minus 2 to 5 percent, the government has predicted.

In Indonesia, the National Development and Planning Committee predicts exports will drop 6 percent compared to last year. Non-oil and gas exports will fall around 20 percent.

The Indonesian central bank has lowered its growth rate forecast to 4 percent from 4.9 percent.

In the Philippines, remittances from expatriate workers is one of the main drivers of its national consumption and economic growth.

There are nearly 9 million Filipinos working abroad, but a large number of them have been laid-off due to the financial crisis.

According to the latest forecast released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Philippines' growth rate in 2009 will drop to 2.5 percent from the 4.6 percent in 2008.

Cambodia's main industries, such as clothing and tourism, have also been hit by the global financial crisis. The ADB has forecast that the country's growth rate would fall to 2.5 percent from 6.5 percent last year.

In Myanmar, which is under economic sanctions by Western countries, tourism has suffered severely from the financial crisis. The number of foreign visitors to Myanmar declined by 25 percent in 2008 compared with 2007, according to statistics.

The ASEAN countries have introduced various stimulus plans to maintain economic growth by expanding domestic demand. Indonesia, ASEAN's biggest economy, is planning to put 73.3 trillion rupiahs (11,950 rupiah to one dollar) into the market through tax reliefs. The Singapore government announced a 2.3 billion Singapore dollar (1.51 Singapore dollar to one dollar) stimulus plan last November.

In March, Malaysia unveiled a new $2.7 billion stimulus plan in addition to last November's $2 billion plan. In February, the Vietnamese government proposed an economic rejuvenating plan involving $one-billion. And on the basis of $two billion in treasury bonds issued this year, the government plans spend about a third or half of the proceeds on infrastructure construction.

The Philippine government has included in the 2009 budget a stimulus package of some $6.8 billion to increase infrastructure investment and social security spending. Government officials have said the country would not only create more job opportunities but also seek to send more contracted workers overseas.

The Cambodian government has doubled this year's budget to about one billion dollars for investment in traffic schemes, irrigation systems, and other infrastructure.

Since October 2008, the central banks of Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand have all lowered their key interest rates to combat the financial crisis.