The Global Economic Crisis and the Development of Southeast Asia

Chapter abstract: This chapter analyzes economic growth in Southeast Asia and the impact of the current recession on countries in the region. Southeast Asia’s economies have been hit hard by the world recession. On the positive side, the region’s financial system, having learned from the financial crisis of 1997–98, has to a large degree avoided the types of high-risk lending and derivative investments that caused so much damage in the West. On the negative side, the global financial crisis has resulted in a serious drop in the region’s exports, thereby posing a threat to Southeast Asia’s main engine of growth.