Deutsche Bank Research: New Asian Frontier Markets

From DB Research Management, Oct. 19, 2012:

This note seeks to put in perspective the economic development of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. All of these countries have very low per capita income but have been experiencing high growth rates, with annual average GDP growth of 6.3% in the 1990s and almost 8% in the 2000s. In the medium term, we expect real GDP growth to remain strong at 6-8% p.a. At a time when developed market economies are still recovering from the financial crisis, Europe is slipping into a second recession and even large emerging markets such as China and India are slowing down, it is worthwhile to take a closer look at countries in an early stage of “emergence”.

The new Asian frontier markets form a region of promising potential. Nominal GDP of the four countries together is comparatively low at USD 187 bn, around one-fifth of the ASEAN-51 total and less than one-tenth of the Asian Tigers2. But fast growth has enabled the group’s economic size to more than double since 2005, and it is projected to reach USD 294 bn by 2017, roughly the current size of Malaysia....MUCH MORE