ASEAN is no longer a passive recipient of global investment capital
Dai Kadomae, CFA, CPA, is a Thailand-based strategic finance adviser and former CFO with 25+ years of cross-border M&A and capital market experience.
Capital has been quietly flowing out of Southeast Asia. In 2024 alone, the region's five key emerging economies -- Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines (sometimes collectively referred to as ASEAN-5) -- recorded net financial account outflows exceeding $4 billion, marking a structural break from nearly a decade of steady inflows. Since 2017, these ASEAN-5 economies have experienced a persistent decline in portfolio investment, based on balance of payments data from central banks and International Monetary Fund reports. Meanwhile, their once-resilient current account surpluses have begun to erode in the wake of COVID-19, exposing them to growing liquidity stress -- amplified by the Trump administration's stop-start trade policies.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Nikkei Asia
2 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
Japanese emperor in Mongolia, US tariff deadline, Taiwan exercises
Welcome to Your Week in Asia. Regional and world trade has been roiled over the past few months by U.S. President Donald Trump's sudden shifts on levies, and this week will see a much-anticipated moment -- the end of the pause on Washington's "reciprocal" tariffs. Past and potential conflicts also loom over the agenda this week, with Japanese Emperor Naruhito heading to Mongolia as the world continues to mark the 80th anniversary of World War II, while Taiwan will hold its annual exercises simulating an attack by China. Get the best of our coverage of Asia and much more by following us on X, where our handle is @NikkeiAsia. We are also now on Bluesky, with the handle @ SUNDAY Japanese emperor's Mongolia trip While making a visit to Mongolia that runs through next Sunday, Naruhito is set to honor thousands of Japanese held prisoner during World War II. Ahead of the trip, the emperor said he wished "to pay tribute to and ponder over the hardship of those who unwillingly lost their lives far away from their homeland." MONDAY Vietnam trade data Vietnam publishes trade data for June, which will include information on the origin and type of products. The numbers are expected to shed light on the actions of exporters in response to U.S. tariffs prior to Hanoi and Washington agreeing new levies in a deal last Wednesday. TUESDAY Monetary policy: Australia Earnings: Samsung Electronics WEDNESDAY U.S. tariff pause due to end Trump's 90-day pause of his "reciprocal" tariffs is due to expire, turning up the heat on trading partners in Asia and elsewhere to strike deals to avert the steepest levies. Trump has said he will be sending out letters declaring the tariffs his administration intends to charge other countries. ASEAN foreign ministers meeting Kuala Lumpur will host the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday along with the two-day East Asia Summit from Thursday and the ASEAN Regional Forum on Friday, with key figures such as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and European Union High Representative Vice President Kaja Kallas expected to attend. The high-stakes diplomacy will focus on U.S. tariffs, Middle East tensions and the U.S.-China trade war. Taiwan live-fire exercises Taiwan starts its annual Han Kuang exercises, simulating a possible attack by China. The drills are due to last for 10 days and will involve mobilizing thousands of reservists. Officials have said the exercises will also cover "gray zone" actions by China, short of outright war. This year's edition comes amid particularly high tensions in the Taiwan Strait. OECD employment outlook The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will publish its latest data on the employment situation in member countries. The outlook will also include an analysis of declining fertility -- a particular concern in Asian nations -- and the impact of increasing longevity on employment and economic growth. Monetary policy: Malaysia Data: China consumer price index IPO: PMCK THURSDAY Mahathir's 100th birthday Mahathir Mohamad, one of the world's oldest living former heads of government, turns 100. Born in 1925, he entered politics in the 1940s and twice served as Malaysia's prime minister, first for a 22-year term from 1981 and later for 22 months from 2018. Earnings: Seven & i, Fast Retailing, Tata Consultancy Services FRIDAY IPO: A1 AK Koh Group
Yomiuri Shimbun
6 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Musk Announces Forming of ‘America Party' in Further Break from Trump
WASHINGTON, July 5 (Reuters) – The tattered bromance between Republican President Donald Trump and his main campaign financier Elon Musk took another fractious turn on Saturday when the space and automotive billionaire announced the formation of a new political party, saying Trump's 'big, beautiful' tax bill would bankrupt America. A day after asking his followers on his X platform whether a new U.S. political party should be created, Musk declared in a post on Saturday that 'Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.' 'By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!' he wrote. The announcement from Musk comes after Trump signed his self-styled 'big, beautiful' tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which Musk fiercely opposed. Musk, who became the word's richest man thanks to his Tesla car company and his SpaceX satellite firm, spent hundreds of millions on Trump's re-election and led the Department of Government Efficiency from the start of the president's second term aimed at slashing government spending. The two have since fallen out spectacularly over disagreements about the bill. Musk said previously that he would start a new political party and spend money to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill. Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billions of dollars in subsidies that Musk's companies receive from the federal government. Republicans have expressed concern that Musk's on-again, off-again feud with Trump could hurt their chances to protect their majority in the 2026 midterm congressional elections. Asked on X what was the one thing that made him go from loving Trump to attacking him, Musk said: 'Increasing the deficit from an already insane $2T under Biden to $2.5T. This will bankrupt the country.' He referenced the growth of Greece from subjugation to preeminence in the ancient world in another tweet, saying: 'The way we're going to crack the uniparty system is by using a variant of how Epaminondas shattered the myth of Spartan invincibility at Leuctra: Extremely concentrated force at a precise location on the battlefield.' There was no immediate comment from Trump or the White House on Musk's announcement. The feud with Trump, often described as one between the world's richest man and the world's most powerful, has led to several precipitous falls in Tesla's share price. The stock soared after Trump's November reelection and hit a high of more than $488 in December, before losing more than half of its value in April and closing last week out at $315.35. Despite Musk's deep pockets, breaking the Republican-Democratic duopoly will be a tall order, given that it has dominated American political life for more than 160 years, while Trump's approval ratings in polls in his second term have generally held firm above 40 percent, despite often divisive policies.
Yomiuri Shimbun
6 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
BRICS Agree to Joint Statement Ahead of Rio Leaders Summit
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 5 (Reuters) – Diplomats from the BRICS group of developing nations have agreed on a joint declaration of their leaders at a summit in Rio de Janeiro this week, three people familiar with the talks said on Saturday. The shared statement, which a gathering of their foreign ministers failed to achieve in April, underscores the group's commitment to consensus despite its quickly expanding ranks. The group of major emerging economies expanded last year beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. That has added diplomatic weight to the gathering, which aspires to speak for developing nations in the Global South, but also increased the complexity of reaching common terms on contentious geopolitical issues. Negotiators preparing for the leaders summit over the past week had struggled to find shared language about the bombardment of Gaza, the Israel-Iran conflict and Africa's representative in a proposed reform of the United Nations Security Council, said two of the sources, who requested anonymity to speak openly. To overcome differences among African nations on the continent's Security Council representative, the group agreed to endorse seats for Brazil and India, while leaving open which country should represent Africa's interests, a person familiar with the talks said. The source said the group had agreed to sharpen its tone on conflicts in the Middle East, strengthening language beyond an April note expressing 'serious concern.' On trade, sources said the BRICS will continue their thinly veiled criticism of U.S. tariff policy under President Donald Trump from the April ministerial meeting, where they warned against 'unjustified unilateral protectionist measures, including the indiscriminate increase of reciprocal tariffs.'
