GDP grew in all economies, with Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam recording the fastest rate of year-on-year (YoY) growth over the past four quarters.

Indonesia experienced a growth plateau and Singapore grew by 0.1 per cent slower in Q2 2024 the quarter compared to Q1.

Growth drivers were nuanced in every Southeast Asian economy, across a combination of strong consumption, output expansion and higher exports, following an improvement in global demand.

The fragile external environment continues to provide mixed signals and various ongoing challenges, including geopolitical conflicts, could pose challenges to Southeast Asia’s growth momentum, the company said in an insights piece on its website.

The Philippines and Vietnam continued as the region’s top two performing economies in Q2 2024, growing at 6.3 per cent and 6.9 per cent respectively, with Malaysia coming in at third, having expanded by 5.9 per cent.

Having turned a corner in the previous quarter, trade activities held up strongly in the second quarter 2024. Exports in all ASEAN countries saw accelerated growth in the quarter, except for the Philippines and Vietnam, where growth moderated.

Indonesia’s exports growth jumped from 1.37 per cent in Q1 2024 to 8.28 per cent in Q2, while Malaysia’s exports growth more than doubled from 2 per cent in Q1 to 5.8 per cent in Q2.

Thailand saw a turnaround from a 1.1 per cent contraction in exports in Q1 2024 to achieve a strong 4.5 per cent growth in Q2, while Vietnam attained a double-digit growth of 12.5 per cent in Q2.

While Indonesia and the Philippines saw a moderation in industrial output growth in Q2, there were positive performances that came from the rest of the region. Malaysia’s output growth more than doubled in Q2 on the back of strong performance from both domestic and exports producing sectors, while Thailand marked the first quarter of output expansion, having contracted for the past six quarters.

Vietnam’s industrial output continued to expand at a faster pace, while Singapore saw a smaller contraction of 1 per cent this quarter.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)