The global economy has continued to strengthen in 2018 and this trend is expected to continue into 2019 as well. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that some 120 economies, which accounts for three quarters of the world’s GDP, “…has seen a pickup in growth in year-on-year terms in 2017”. Countries like Germany, Japan, Korea and the United States also saw higher growth in the third quarter of 2017 as opposed to the projection made in October 2016.

The economic end goal for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is economic integration. And one of the many steps taken to achieve that goal is through the introduction of the ASEAN Single Window (ASW) initiative. What is the ASW?The prime focus of the ASW is on trade facilitation and the end product is the integration of National Single Windows of individual ASEAN member states.

Thailand’s start-up growth comes hot on the heels of strong start-up progress in Singapore and Indonesia. For the Thai government, driving Thailand towards digitisation under the Thailand 4.0 initiative is key. Foreign investors too are looking in on the potential in the region.

Myanmar’s agricultural sector faces a myriad of problems, such as a shortage of trained farmers, a rural infrastructure and lack of crop diversification.

After a great year for the Vietnamese economy, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is determined to take the economy to greater heights. Speaking at the Vietnam Economic Forum held by the Communist Party’s Commission for Economic Affairs last week, Phuc declared, “We must try to transform Vietnam from a beautiful girl into a new economic tiger in Asia.”Despite a slow start to 2017, Vietnam came out as one of the best performing economies in Southeast Asia.

The recent announcement by Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism & Sports it had welcomed 35 million international tourists on its shores in 2017 is good news for its businesses but has given rise to doubts on Thailand's ability to sustain increasing tourist volumes in the short term. One of the main challenges it faces is limitations to its transportation infrastructure.

High level executives, investors or professionals in industries of the future like aerospace, automation and biofuels can now live and work in Thailand under a new visa scheme called the SMART visa.

If the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were a single country, its approximate population would be a staggering 630 million, making it the fourth largest in the world behind India, China and the European Union. Economic growth is impressive, with an average annual real growth rate slightly higher than 5 percent.

Indonesia’s central bank signaled the end of monetary policy easing as it focuses on inflation risks, such as rising food and oil costs.After keeping the benchmark interest rate at 4.25 percent – as forecast by all 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg – Assistant Governor Dody Budi Waluyo indicated there’s limited room for rate cuts after eight reductions in the past two years.“The monetary stance remains neutral,” he said. “We will bring inflation to meet the target of 3.5 percent.

Thailand raised its minimum wage nationwide for the first time in five years, as the country’s military government tries to tackle lingering income inequality.The wage will climb from April by 5 baht (16 cents) to 22 baht per day, depending on location, Jarin Chakkaphark, permanent secretary for labor, said in a briefing late Wednesday in Bangkok.