Room for growth

The 10 members have come a long way since the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. Lower debt, stronger banking sectors and more robust balances of payments all help to cushion ASEAN against external shocks, as evident during the latest crisis. The Philippines was just upgraded to investment grade, following in the footsteps of Indonesia last year. And despite outperforming the rest of the world for years, ASEAN still has plenty of room for growth, with trade, a growing middle class, burgeoning consumerism and urbanization all acting as strong drivers.

Standard Chartered believes urbanization alone could yield a tripling of ASEAN's GDP per capita, and help it outpace global growth for years to come, as the less urbanized parts of ASEAN catch up with the likes of Singapore and Malaysia. This year, ASEAN growth is expected to reach 5.3 percent, against IMF's 3.3 percent forecast for the world. Not surprisingly, given the state of economies in the West, foreign investor confidence in the region has been growing steadily, with ASEAN attracting 7.6 percent of global foreign direct investment in 2011, up from 4.3 percent in 2006.

The recent efforts of Myanmar - once the world's biggest rice exporter - to reconnect with the world economy further strengthens ASEAN as a trade bloc and attractive base for multinationals including UK corporates. This year Standard Chartered has re-entered Yangon after a decade's absence. To us, as to many others, ASEAN and the wider Asia region is becoming increasingly important to our business.

As ever, nothing can be taken for granted. The 10 ASEAN member nations are very different, challenges remain on the path to economic integration and sustained growth is dependent on the right mix of fundamentals, policy and confidence. But, for now, all the excitement about ASEAN is well founded and UK corporates would do well to put the region on the map.