East Asia Updates: November 2017

Abstract

The Southeast Asian economy expanded by 5.7% in Q3 2017 (Figure 1), mainly driven by rising exports due to the global economic recovery. However, lower than expected consumption and manufacturing sector growth rates in Indonesia, of 4.9% and 4.8%, respectively, were still a drag on the biggest economy in the region’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth, despite robust 7.1% fixed investment growth (Table 1). On the monetary system front, the average inflation rate of Southeast Asia was 2.7% in September 2017, with stable price increases in the region. Growth is likely to continue to be supported by favourable development of exports and continuous growth of domestic demand.