According to a comprehensive estimate by FocusEconomics, ASEAN expanded 4.8% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2018, marking an uptick from Q3’s revised 4.6% expansion (previously reported: +4.7% year-on-year). With Q4 GDP data for Singapore and Vietnam already released, over the last month it was the turn of most of ASEAN’s other big hitters. Indonesia—which accounts for over a third of the region’s nominal GDP—registered sturdy growth, supported by both domestic demand and an improvement in the external sector. Government social assistance in the build-up to April’s general elections likely underpinned consumer spending.

SUMMARY 3 

CALENDAR 15 

INDONESIA 16 

MALAYSIA 31 

PHILIPPINES 47 

SINGAPORE 63 

THAILAND 76 

VIETNAM 92 

OTHER COUNTRIES 102 

BRUNEI 102 

CAMBODIA 105 

LAOS 108 

MYANMAR 111 

NOTES 114