A report released by the Boston Consulting Group this week reveals that Indonesian businesses are not excited about the ASEAN Economic Community (“AEC”).
According to a Jakarta Post article on the subject, the Boston Consulting Group surveyed “several hundred” executives and government officials and found:
- 45% of Indonesian respondents saw the AEC as an opportunity, and in contrast 90% of Malaysian and 81% of Singaporean businesses did; and
- 42% of Indonesian respondents saw the AEC as a threat, and in contrast 0% of Malaysian and 2% of Singaporean businesses did.
One explanation offered by the Boston Consulting Group is that this may be because Indonesia is the AEC’s biggest economy, and businesses think that it will be other member countries that will benefit from accessing the Indonesian market. And they might be right - Indonesia accounts for around 36% of the AEC's combined GDP.
Boston Consulting Group’s report is available here.
The AEC promises freer flowing goods, services and investment between ASEAN nations: Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
