Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand are expected to join the nations with Gross Domestic Products (GDP) exceeding 1 trillion USD in 2030, according to a report released by the global information company IHS Inc.
Rajiv Biswas, IHS chief economist for Asia-Pacific, said that this fact will help increase the geopolitical and economic importance of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its economic grouping in international diplomacy and the global dialogue on trade, investment and international standards-setting.
Meanwhile, the ASEAN frontier markets of Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are forecast to continue to grow rapidly.
The HIS study showed that Vietnam will grow at a pace of around 6.5 percent per year over the medium term, with rapid growth in exports of electronics and garments driving industrial development.
Regarding Malaysia, the IHS report said the country is forecast to achieve a per capita GDP of 20,000 USD by 2025.
Biswas pointed out that the structure of Malaysia's economy will continue to shift towards higher value-added manufacturing and services.
ASEAN's members include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.-VNA