Much to reap from Singapore's recent Asean chairmanship

SINGAPORE may have handed over the baton of Asean chairmanship to Thailand this year, but that does not mean that attention to the region should wane.

Apart from the obvious fact that Asean's journey is a long and continuing one, the neighbourhood provides bright spots of resilience amid global uncertainty, while firms can also look to capitalise on advances made during Singapore's chairmanship term.

Although analysts expect Asean's growth to slow slightly this year - with forecasts generally in the region of 5 per cent, down from an estimated 5.3 per cent in 2018 - that rate of growth is nothing to sniff at. Countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines are also expected to outperform despite the subdued global environment, with accelerating growth in 2019. And while there are, famously, no winners in a trade war, some markets in South-east Asia do stand to gain from the trade spat between the United Sta…