Some 20 years after the Asian financial crisis brought many Southeast Asian nations to their knees, business sentiment is buoyant in a region that now functions as one of the primary engines of global growth, according to the results of our inaugural Business Barometer: OBG in ASEAN CEO Survey.

Around 84% of executives surveyed across six ASEAN states – Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam – had positive or very positive expectations for local business conditions in the coming 12 months, while 72% were likely or very likely to make a significant capital investment.

The upbeat results reflect Asia’s emergence as the main driver of global economic expansion. The IMF forecasts the GDP of the “ASEAN-5” – defined by the fund as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam – to grow by 5.4% and 5.3% in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and projects emerging and developing Asia will expand by 6.5% annually over the same period, making it the fastest-growing continent by some distance.

To read the full article and more in-depth analysis of the survey results, please click the link below.